Quests of Chaos
by Tangent
Summary: Counting herself lucky to be one of the few to win tickets to try play testing a brand new MMORPG, Nabiki and three other residents of her home Ranma, Akane, and Kasumi set out into a new world of adventure. Only this journey turns out to be quite real.
1. Chapter 1

_**QUESTS of CHAOS**_

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR:

The inspirations for this story are, among other things, Dragon Quest, Dragon _Knight, _Dragon _Pink_, the Final Fantasy series, World of Warcraft, Rift, and a fun Ranma ½ fanfiction by Chibi-Reaper by the title of Towers and Titans (seriously - go read it!).

To this end, the timeframe of the story assumes a somewhat ambiguous sliding contemporary setting as a starting point, as apposed to the mid 80's when the cannon series was made. Thus, _most_ of the characters are at least familiar with computers, the internet, relatively cheep and small cell phones, and a working civilian GPS system.

Ranma and Shampoo are, naturally, not among those fortunate ones blessed with the knowledge and convenience of modern civilization. Sucks for them, right?

Well…

PREREADING AND EDITING ASSISTANCE BY:

Lord Talon.

LAST EDITED:

1/1/2012 - changed the prologue a bit, and made other small changes here and there based on advice from my new pre-readers.

1/2/2012 - Hopefully finished catching up to all the spelling and grammer errors that had gotten by each sweep until now... ^-^;;

5/31/2012 - more adjustments as the concepts behind the story are refined.

DISCLAIMER:

'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfic has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfic may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanfics, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even _gasp_ American comic books!).

TAGS:

Comedy Adventure Drama with frequent gratuitous (and probably unnecessary) nudity…

Might even get it out of my system. Who knows…

**PROLOGUE:**

Ranma sighed as he approached the pavilion and presented the ticket Nabiki had won to the attendant. One of a set of four, which (according to the rules on the pamphlet that came with them) could only be distributed amongst residents in the same home. Naturally, their fathers had seized on this as a way to force Akane and him together, despite Ranma's near total lack of familiarity with all things related with computers. Even _he_ knew that, despite Pop's claims to the contrary, managing to play a few arcade games over the years, and being 'Player Two' occasionally on someone else's game system was _not_ the same thing as being a master of _computer_ games, let alone whatever a MMORPG was.

Still, Nabiki had shrugged and stated that as long as the contest officials accepted that he was a part of the household, Ranma could hardly do worse than her father. Which, much to his amusement, took much of the wind out of Mr. Tendo's sails.

After placing a call using the number provided on the pamphlet to confirm that Ranma could participate as himself (and not have to pretend to be a 'fourth' Tendo sister), Nabiki had carefully read over the rules and then distributed the questionnaires for them to fill out, which (along with a set of photos) would be used by the producers of the game being presented at the demo to pregenerate their characters in order to save time.

As compensation for not being able to decide everything themselves, they had been granted the privilege of a permanent two character account in the game for as long as it lasted. Sure, a regular account would have something like eight or ten different slots for different toons, but a free account was a free account, right? Even if one of the free slots was taken up by a permanent, undeletable toon.

Apparently, there were plans in the works to make the premade characters pretty special.

Even better, each account wouldn't count against them if any of them ever _did_ opt to pay for a regular one. And if they did _well enough_ in the LAN party demo, they would each get enough gear to play the game and possibly even up to a full year's worth of game time on their very own _gold member_ accounts!

None of which mattered much to Ranma, despite Nabiki's obvious pleasure at potential free stuff. He figured his old man would somehow screw it up for him eventually.

Ranma was brought out of his self inflicted melancholic reverie when he and the Tendo sisters were brought before a set of isolated booths. One complete, individual set up for each of them, including a monitor, keyboard, mouse, surround sound, soundproofed walls, and a comfy looking office chair. Everything was stylized with a matching motif that he could only assume was supposed to be mystic, as it used _lots _of runes and symbols.

Well now! _This_ would definitely put a crimp in their fathers' fantasies! It was also fairly evident that Akane had noticed the same thing, as Ranma could see her mood improving as well. Perhaps this wouldn't be a total fiasco after all?

Feeling somewhat relieved and elated, Ranma got into his own booth, sat down as the attendant closed the door, and looked at the monitor. Thanks to a small amount of practice time that Nabiki had been able to arrange for him on what seemed to be a similar computer game, he knew that he had to use the mouse thingy to move the arrow thingy on the screen, so he looked around for it briefly, spotting it on a pad to the right of the keyboard.

It really _was_ kind of creepy how everything in the booth had matching designs and symbols on them. Heck, even the surfaces which Ranma had first thought to be fake stone and plastic gems actually felt like they might be real. The chair, while comfortable (the term 'ergonomic' might not be in Ranma's vocabulary, but that didn't mean that he didn't appreciate the results of such designs), was also inexplicably made of stone with embedded crystals, gems, and engraved with a mix of technological and mystic designs.

Taking a moment to remember what his assigned log in name and password were, Ranma clicked on the appropriate text boxes on the screen and typed them in:

**HYRM**

**4NDR0GYN**

Both had been Nabiki's idea, and while Ranma still had no idea why the middle Tendo sister found them funny, he couldn't think of any objection to using them either. Especially since he didn't have to use either of those as any of his toon's names. Better than showing them around and admitting ignorance about what Nabiki was teasing him with at any rate.

Hitting enter, Ranma almost blinked as the lines and symbols on everything in the booth lit up around him in a spectacular array of shifting colors. 'Almost' in that he actually froze in place, not even breathing. He actually had time to wonder just what the heck was happening to him _this_ time before his whole body dissolved into a thick, misty vapor which his clothes fell through. The shapeless mist hung in the air for a moment before being drawn into a spiraling vortex that flowed to a point equidistant between the seat and the headrest of the chair, forming a crystalline wafer about the size and shape of a credit card, which then fell onto the now empty clothes.

A little more than a quarter hour passed before a couple of men came into the room to clear it. One of the men picked up the pair of crystal "cards", holding them up to inspect them. Both cards contained a single three dimensional image of a nude person engraved within. One, bearing the likeness of a certain teenage noodle shop waitress, was carelessly tossed into a case, but the other one was handed to a man with an intricately engraved quartz slab roughly the size of a hardbound book. A slab with twelve slots cut into one end, of which about half were already filled while the rest of the slots remained empty.

One of which the crystal waifer bearing the nude image of one Ranma Saotome was now inserted into…

**CHAPTER ONE**

Ranma blinked blearily as she woke up in a mist-shrouded clearing. She could hear birds singing merrily, frogs croaking, and various insects chirping or otherwise making assorted noises. The air smelled clean, pure even, without even a hint of any of the various pollutants she had come to associate with civilization in general. She was lying on a natural bed of moss and, while she could barely see the vaguest hints of the leaves and branches of innumerable trees through the soupy fog, what little she did see and hear suggested that she was in a forest with a stream nearby.

Oh, and she was also completely naked, with no weapons or equipment to speak of…

"What the hell? And when did I turn into a girl?"

O O O

Akane wasn't too happy with the current misadventure Ranma had gotten her (and her sisters…but mostly her) into. Of _course_, it was some bizarre trap or kidnapping attempt. Of _course_, it was all Ranma's fault! _Naturally_ she had woken up completely _naked_ in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a creepy-looking fog!

Not that she had ever woken up naked during any of the previous times she'd been kidnapped; but hey, this was one of Ranma's misadventures (at least in _her_ point of view, which ignored the fact that Nabiki was the one who had entered and won the contest) and, like it or not (and Ranma certainly did _not_ like it, despite whatever Akane believed), he was Happosai's chosen heir. Which meant that she had been expecting the pervert to do something like this for a long time now!

Muttering imprecations, epithets, and some alarmingly specific threats towards the absent fiancé she wasn't sure she wanted or not, Akane looked around the hazy glade, picked a random direction, and started walking with determination.

Not that she had any idea where to go, but wherever she ended up, she was going to beat the _hell_ out of somebody!

O O O

Nabiki sat cross-legged on the soft bed of moss she had found herself lying on upon awakening.

She was deep in thought.

Mostly due to the fact that adventures were something that happened to _other_ people. Usually Ranma since his arrival into their home, but even before then this sort of thing occurred occasionally, typically only affecting her peripherally, if at all. This time, the chaos had seemingly centered on her.

As first adventures went, Nabiki thought to herself sardonically, she was starting out about as unprepared as a newbie could get. Her skill set, which lent itself pretty well to a modern, urban setting, was pretty much useless in the middle of nowhere. While she had kept herself fit with dancing and aerobics, she hadn't actively trained in martial arts since her mother died, and considering that she had grown significantly since then, she placed her combat ability as "rusty" at best, and more likely nonexistent. And not only didn't she have any sort of weapon, equipment, she was completely naked, with not even a single coin with which she might rectify any of these issues.

Oh joy…

"Great," Nabiki muttered to herself as she absently folded her arms under her bare bosom and huddled in on herself slightly, "now what am I supposed to do"

As Nabiki continued to ponder her situation, she noticed a sort of display screen taking form in the air before her, seemingly made from shadow and light…

**[Tutorial Activated]**

**[Bonus Objective Complete: Access Tutorial - Success]**

"Okay, this is weird," Nabiki commented after reading the screen. Seeing no other means of relaying her inquiries, Nabiki decided to speak her questions aloud, hoping the aberration, if she wasn't just imagining it being there, was voice-activated. "I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on? Oh, and could you show me a Player's Guide, if there is one?" Nabiki had decided that, as inconceivable as it may have been (Jusenkyo curses and such aside), she had somehow been sucked into the game demo she was supposed to be playing. Sure _Quests of Chaos_ was being promoted as 'the Fantasy RPG that will suck you in and makes you a part of the game,' but she had never suspected that they had meant it _literally_.

The display on the screen changed, and Nabiki began to study the rules of the world she had to work with…

O O O

Kasumi blushed as she hesitantly made her way through the chilly mist-shrouded forest, protecting her modesty as well as she was able to with just her arms alone. She wasn't as comfortable with casual nudity as Nabiki and Ranma seemed to be, nor did she have the stubborn bullheadedness of her youngest sister, so she was every bit as frightened and embarrassed as she felt her current situation required.

Even so, she had gathered up her limited courage and forged her way towards the sounds of naturally running water, intending to follow it and (hopefully) return to civilization. She tried not to think too much about the fact that she would be walking around naked in public if she actually did find a village or town, instead, hoping that once she found help, she would be returned home and reunited with her kitchen and family, more or less in that order.

Oh, and Uncle Genma too, she supposed, having considered Ranma to be part of her family by default.

Pausing at the edge of a new clearing through which ran the stream she had heard, which fed into a modest-sized pond, Kasumi noticed a wooden chest sitting on a flat rock in the center of the pond.

Looking about with conflicted feelings (both worry and hope that someone might be nearby), Kasumi entered the glade by the pond and tested the waters with her toes…

O O O

While Ranma was annoyed to find herself naked in the middle of nowhere with neither clothing nor supplies (not to mention the fact that she was also female, which she decided to blame on the thick, chilly fog and gathering morning dew - never mind the fact that she woke up dry), she wasn't particularly worried.

After all, thanks to her father's questionable training methods, Ranma actually knew how to take care of herself in _exactly_ this kind of situation. Well, except for the being female part. Her father had put her through extreme survival training years ago, _well_ before they had visited Jusenkyo. Still, it couldn't be too different as a girl.

Heading off towards the sound of the stream had gotten her a cool drink and a more purposeful direction as she followed the flow of the water. Hopefully to a path or village or some other sign of civilization, but she'd setting for finding something she could use.

"I don't believe this," Ranma spoke aloud to herself, a short time later, as the stream she was following poured into a fairly large pond. "Who leaves a chest on a rock, in a pond, in the middle of nowhere?" Pausing a moment as the question jogged a memory concerning a certain scroll of dubious worth, she then continued her muttering. "Okay, who, _besides_ the ld letch does this sort of thing?"

Ranma stepped right into the pond, fully expecting the frigid temperature and immersed herself as quickly as possible in order to get over the shock faster. Wading through the cold water of the pond, she approached the wooden container and looked it over briefly before trying to lift the lid. Since that proved simple enough, the neo-girl looked inside to see if there was anything she could use or sell…

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me!" she grumbled, finding only a weather-stained and threadbare tunic with several rips and holes and a couple of patches of different material, a ratty-looking belt woven from thin strips of leather, a leather pouch with poorly stitched seams, some sort of ornament on a short leather thong, and three small tarnished copper coins of indeterminate origin.

The tunic, which was faded to the point where Ranma could only guess at what the original color might have been (currently a sort of mottled grey-beige), actually fit…after a fashion. It only covered the left shoulder and part of her upper left arm with a short sleeve that looked like it would come off with the gentlest of tugs, while leaving the other shoulder and arm completely bare. It was _almost_ long enough to fully cover her shapely bottom and conceal her bright red patch of pubic hair, but not quite, and you could only just _barely_ see through the worn fabric, not counting the holes which allowed tantalizing glimpses of her pert nipples as she moved, when they didn't just poke through a hole for all the world to admire, so it sort of provided a smidgen of modesty…maybe…well, not really, but at least she could work with it.

The belt fit well enough, and the pouch, even as poorly stitched as it was, managed to hold the three well-worn coins easily. Deciding that the ornament wasn't actually girly, Ranma braided her long hair back into the pigtail she had grown accustomed to since the whole incident with the dragon-whisker porridge, and used the leather thong connected to the stone-and-sapphire bauble to tie it off.

In any case, Ranma was now sort of clothed and even had a limited amount of funds. Finding where the pond emptied out into another stream, she continued on her way, never noticing the transparent floating display screen that briefly appeared behind her. Not that she'd have made much sense of what it displayed anyway…

**[Ranma Saotome] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: None]**

**[]**

**[Combat Class: Rogue] [Level: 1]**

**[Combat Role: Hit and Run, stealthy strikes, inflict multiple low damage]**

**[Armor Type: Cloth (can upgrade to Leather at higher levels)]**

**[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Dual Light Melee, Light Ranged]**

**[Regular Moves: Dodge, Double Stab, Flee, Pummel, Rapid Kick]**

**[Special Moves: Pick Lock, Sneak, Steal]**

**[]**

**[Equipped Armor: Faded Tunic, Cheap Hair Ornament, Tattered Belt]**

**[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]**

**[Inventory: Empty]**

**[Money: 3cp]**

**[]**

**[Base Combat Statistics]**

**[Hit Points: 4] [Mana: 1] [Ki: 2]**

**[Attack: 2] [Damage: 2] [Move: 4]**

**[Defense: 2] [Soak: 2] [Avoidance: 4]**

O O O

Akane had long passed the point of being angry, or even livid, and had finally calmed down to the point where she was merely irritated when nothing had presented itself for her to vent her frustrations upon.

She was totally lost, in a fog-shrouded forest with virtually _no_ visibility past the length of her arms. She was still _completely_ naked, had _no_ supplies, and was beginning to wonder if leaving the clearing had been such a hot idea.

"Ow!"

And just now she had tripped over a wooden box somebody had thoughtlessly left in the middle of the mist-covered grass…

Breaking it open, without even bothering to check if it opened somehow, Akane found herself the _*ahem*_ proud recipient of a wooden training sword, and a leather thong with a single tattered and worn cloth panel. The cloth panel was crudely made, sort of muddy beige in color, and so threadbare and ridden with holes that it was practically incapable of actually providing any real modesty, except perhaps from a distance.

Which, Akane decided, was better than no modesty at all, so she tied it around her waist, lined up the panel in front of her so that it covered her as modestly as it could. Akane felt a wave of… something… pass through her mind as the tattered rag fell into place before her vagina, failing to hide much of anything at all from view, but she paid it no mind.

In fact, despite being fully aware that the loincloth merely accessorized her otherwise bare body rather than providing any real modesty at all, Akane nodded with a satisfied smile and continued on her way, deciding that she was not only comfortable now that she was once again clothed in an acceptable manner, she rather liked the style provided by the tiny scrap of material. As with Ranma, she took no note of the display screen that popped briefly into existence where she had just been.

**[Akane Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: None]**

**[]**

**[Combat Class: Berserker] [Level: 1]**

**[Combat Role: Attack multiple opponents, inflict high damage]**

**[Armor Type: Cloth and Leather]**

**[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Light Melee, Heavy Melee, Improvised Melee]**

**[Regular Moves: Bash, Club, Slap, Stab, Kick, Flee]**

**[Special Moves: Rage, Shôjo Mallet]**

**[]**

**[Equipped Armor: Tiny Tattered Loincloth]**

**[Equipped Weapon: Wooden Training Sword]**

**[Inventory: Empty]**

**[Money: None]**

**[]**

**[Base Combat Statistics]**

**[Hit Points: 6] [Mana: 0] [Ki: 4]**

**[Attack: 2] [Damage: 2] [Move: 4]**

**[Defense: 2] [Soak: 3] [Avoidance: 2]**

O O O

Dismissing the map as unhelpful, as apparently it only revealed her immediate observable area with everything else in the region shaded into obscurity, which basically meant that the total area currently revealed on it was the area immediately around her as the dense mist effectively obscured everything more than a couple of arm length away from her. With a somewhat disgruntled sigh, Nabiki continued reading the information provided by the screen floating in front of her.

**[Attributes: Describe to what extent a character possesses natural, inherent characteristics common to all characters. These are divided between twelve Core Attributes (divided between Physical, Mental, and Spiritual), Eight Secondary Attributes (divided between Social and Fortune), and fourteen Calculated Attributes (derived via various combinations of the Core and Secondary Attributes). Attributes are determined by the Player's Class in combination with their Level, and any Bonuses or Penalties assigned to their Account based on their Ticket information, Akashic reading, as well as those earned or imposed during their adventures.]**

**[Physical Attributes: Agility, Brawn, Dexterity, and Resilience]**

**[Mental Attributes: Curiosity, Intuition, Logic, and Perception]**

**[Spiritual Attributes: Focus, Serenity, Will, and Wisdom]**

**[Social Attributes: Appearance, Charisma, Maturity, and Subtlety]**

**[Fortune Attributes: Fate, Luck, Karma, and Weirdness]**

**[Calculated Attributes: Accuracy, Avoidance, Critical, Damage, Deflection, Health, Initiative, Ki, Mana, Protection, Recovery, Resistance, Soak, and Stealth]**

"Well," Nabiki murmured to herself as she quickly skimmed over the actual descriptions of each attribute, "I suppose this is good to know, but I hope that I'm not expected to keep track of all this in real time." Speaking up slightly, she addressed the display screen again, "And just what am I supposed to do here, anyway?"

**[Pick One or More Starting Missions:]**

**[* Access Tutorial (completed - success)]**

**[* Read Tutorial (in progress…)]**

**[* Change Starting Class]**

**[* Locate Other Players]**

**[* Form Adventuring Party]**

**[* Exit Starting Area]**

**[]**

**[Bonus Objectives:]**

**[* Locate and Access Starting Class Equipment Stash]**

**[* Acquire Food and Supplies]**

**[* Get to Level Five prior to leaving Starting Area]**

**[* Leave Starting Area at or prior to reaching Level Ten]**

**[* Earn a Bonus]**

**[* Avoid Incurring a Penalty]**

"Change Starting Class?" Nabiki read with a raised eyebrow. "I don't even know what my _current_ Starting Class is, or if I even have one! How do I check that, anyway?"

**[Nabiki Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: None]**

**[]**

**[Combat Class: Dancer] [Level: 1]**

**[Combat Role: Boost allied morale, distract enemies, inflict low damage]**

**[Armor Type: Cloth (further restricted to articles listed under Dancer)]**

**[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Light Melee, Musical Instruments, Microphones]**

**[Regular Moves: Dance, Sing, Slap, Stab, Kick, Flee]**

**[Special Moves: Jiggle, Bounce, Sway, Seduce]**

**[]**

**[Equipped Armor: None]**

**[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]**

**[Inventory: Empty]**

**[Money: None]**

**[]**

**[Base Combat Statistics]**

**[Hit Points: 3] [Mana: 2] [Ki: 1]**

**[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]**

**[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 5] **

"Uh-huh," Nabiki huffed, not particularly impressed with whatever a 'Dancer' was supposed to be other than apparently agile. Although, she arched an eyebrow at seeing 'microphone' listed as a weapon type; wasn't this supposed to be a medieval setting? Still, she'd heard of other supposed 'fantasy' RPGs allowing some 'modern' items if they could be 'magically' empowered. "Interesting 'Special Moves'," she commented with dry sarcasm, immediately equating 'Dancer' with 'Stripper'; not that she had anything against the profession as she'd long recognized it as a viable means of earning extra income when she left home for university. And while she'd occasionally entertained the fantasy of 'stripping' in front of Ranma to see if she could get him to 'pop his cork' without ever laying a hand upon him, she had no interest in 'shaking her booty' in some game…unless there was a way to make 'real' money doing so. "I don't suppose I could switch to something with more hit points and a better chance to keep me out of combat altogether?"

**[Switching Starting Class is possible at this time. Accessing Class List for a list of Classes falling within search perimeters…]**

**[Query: Does Player (Nabiki Tendo) wish to change Starting Class with the intent to deliberately bypass combat through Class Selection?]**

"Yes, please," Nabiki responded. She assumed that the display screen would offer up a selection of alternate starting classes to choose from and idly hoped that 'Merchant' or 'Trader' would be listed as an option; such classes would almost certainly require some form of starting 'capital' or 'trade goods'.

**[Violation! Any Player attempting to avoid combat by means of Class adjustment is strictly forbidden!]**

"Dammit," Nabiki muttered, "this can't be good…"

**[Red Flag: Player in violation is a Female Tendo. Accessing file appendix Tendo-X for further instructions.]**

"Hey now," Nabiki was naturally somewhat alarmed to discover direct proof that at least she and her sisters _were_ specifically targeted by whoever was responsible for their current misadventure.

**[In accordance with the criteria set forth in file appendix Tendo-X for a Female Tendo found in violation of seeking combat avoidance by means of Class adjustment, Player (Nabiki Tendo) shall be penalized by application of Class Change to be selected at random from acceptable penalty Classes short-listed in file appendix Tendo-X.]**

**[Penalty selected. Combat Class: Dancer to be changed to Cursed Class: Slave. Applying Class Change now…]**

"Abort! Abort!" Nabiki frantically instructed the screen, not really reading the stat adjustments that accompanied the adjustment of her character sheet. "I don't want to change classes after all, okay? Please leave me as a Dancer! I don't want to be a Slave!"

**[Violation! Players are strictly forbidden from attempting to avoid penaltied incurred due to their own actions!]**

"D'oh!"

**[Red Flag: Player in violation is a Female Tendo. Accessing file appendix Tendo-X for further instructions.]**

"What! Again! Isn't that, like, double jeopardy or something?"

**[In accordance with the criteria set forth in file appendix Tendo-X for a Female Tendo found in violation of seeking to avoid application of a Cursed Class due to penalties incurred by her own actions, Player (Nabiki Tendo) shall be further penalized by the additional application of a Secondary Cursed Class to be selected at random from acceptable penalty Classes short-listed in file appendix Tendo-X.]**

**[Penalty selected. Addition of Cursed Class: Ponygirl as Secondary Class. Applying Class Change now…]**

Nabiki didn't comment about the strange sensation that washed over her as the screen showing her character concluded its adjustments, instead shaking her head clear with a huff. She no longer had any idea what the odd floating things with the squiggly marks on them were, nor did she really care as they were neither threatening nor food. Not that she felt hungry at the moment.

In fact, she felt rather energetic, so she quickly stood up and bounced experimentally on the balls of her feet, getting a good feel for the bounce of her bare bosom. Then she took off like a shot, running through the mist-shrouded woods for the sheer joy of running itself, forgetting her cares as she brushed past leaf-covered branches.

Lost in the simple joys of running carefree, Nabiki took no notice of the fact that she was still nude. Nor did it even occur to her to be concerned about the fact that she had abruptly lost quite a bit of knowledge, most of her vocabulary, and the ability to count past two…

Back at the clearing Nabiki had started from, the display on the translucent floating screen changed one more time before it faded from view…

**[]**

**[Nabiki Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: Property]**

**[]**

**[Primary Combat Class: Slave (Cursed Class) (Inactive)] [Level: 1]**

**[Combat Role: Combat pet of other Player, distract enemies, inflict low damage]**

**[Armor Type: Collars and Harnesses Only]**

**[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Farm Tools, Labor Tools, Artisan Tools]**

**[Regular Moves: Beg, Slap, Steal, Kick, Flee]**

**[Special Moves: Jiggle, Bounce, Puff-Puff, Sway]**

**[]**

**[Equipped Armor: None]**

**[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]**

**[Inventory: Empty]**

**[Money: None]**

**[]**

**[Base Combat Statistics]**

**[Hit Points: 2] [Mana: 1] [Ki: 1]**

**[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]**

**[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 3]**

**[]**

**[Secondary Combat Class: Ponygirl (Cursed Class) (Active)] [Level: 1]**

**[Combat Role: Riding, Draft, and Dairy Animal]**

**[Armor Type: Collars, Harnesses, and Ponygirl Barding Only]**

**[Weapon Types: Unarmed]**

**[Regular Moves: Bite, Punch, Kick, Flee]**

**[Special Moves: Canter, Dash, Jump, Strut]**

**[]**

**[Equipped Armor: None]**

**[Cannot Equip Weapons]**

**[Inventory: Empty]**

**[Money: N/A]**

**[]**

**[Base Combat Statistics]**

**[Hit Points: 8] [Mana: 0] [Ki: 1]**

**[Attack: 0] [Damage: 3] [Move: 7]**

**[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 5]**

**[]**

**[Penalty Incurred: Nabiki Tendo - For attempting to bypass combat by Class respec]**

**[Penalty Incurred: Nabiki Tendo - For attempting to avoid incurred penalty by aborting causative violation)**

**[Penalties Applied: Primary Class change to Slave (Cursed Class) and addition of Secondary Class: Ponygirl (Cursed Class) appended to Player Nabiki Tendo's Account. Initial Primary Class supressed until Cursed Primary Class is revoked or broken]**

**[* Avoid Incurring a Penalty: Failed!]**

O O O

A feeling of serenity and acceptance washed over Kasumi as she opened the chest. She briefly wondered why she had ever been bothered by being naked in the first place, as it was obviously more natural for her to be nude. It wasn't like she had any reason to be ashamed of her body after all. In fact, she suddenly felt deeply embarrassed to have ever hidden her pert, healthy body under such frumpy clothing, instead of dressing in a more appropriately ladylike manner that properly accessorized and displayed her feminine charms for all to see and appreciate. Oh, Father must have been so ashamed about her hiding her own bosom and buttocks in such a disgraceful manner for all those years!

Pausing a moment to let the feeling of serenity wash over her again, Kasumi looked into the chest and noted the contents with a smile. There was a pair of soft felt boots, burgundy in color, and with a white cuff trimmed with red triangles along the bottom of the cuffs. There was also a sheer white cloth panel with red trim and a red waist-string, with red triangles on the bottom hem. Putting it on, Kasumi could tell that it was _almost_ translucent rather than transparent, but happily it clearly displayed rather than hid her natural charms. A somewhat faded red ribbon quickly adorned her hair, replacing the one she had lost when she entered this world, and a red choker was clasped around her neck, with a shiny brass tag displaying her denomination as an adventuring priestess.

Content to be _properly_ dressed for the first time since…well…ever, Kasumi started to follow the stream calmly, no longer bothering to hide any part of her body at all as she casually made her way, her bare buxom bosom bouncing freely as her unadorned ass swayed enticingly with each step.

With any luck, she would find either of her sisters or Ranma soon. And even if not, following the water downstream should still eventually lead her to civilization…

Not sparing a glance back, Kasumi failed to see a display screen briefly fade into view near the chest she had just looted, nor did she read the display before it faded back out once again.

**[Kasumi Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: Holy]**

**[]**

**[Combat Class: Priestess] [Level: 1]**

**[Combat Role: Heal and Buff allies, inflict low damage]**

**[Armor Type: Cloth (further restricted to articles listed under Priestess)]**

**[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Denominational Weapon Category]**

**[Regular Moves: Bless, Flee, Heal, Slap]**

**[Special Moves: Resurrect, Serenity, Ward]**

**[]**

**[Equipped Armor: Soft Boots, Sheer Loincloth, Collar]**

**[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]**

**[Inventory: Empty]**

**[Money: None]**

**[]**

**[Base Combat Statistics]**

**[Hit Points: 4] [Mana: 7] [Ki: 1]**

**[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]**

**[Defense: 1] [Soak: 2] [Avoidance: 3]**

O O O

Gosunkugi looked in amazement at the crispy remains of the cat that had just managed to distort the bars of his gilded cage enough to become a real threat.

He _could_ cast magic! Even as a mouse!

Looking around in excitement over his newfound freedom, and feeling exhilarated from the power he had felt flowing through him, Gosunkugi quickly determined that, despite the vast wealth represented by tome after tome of who knew how many spells, the sheer difference in physical scale made it impossible to reap the benefits of staying in this treasure trove of arcane knowledge.

Scampering under a door he didn't even have to duck for, the magical mouse swiftly found himself on a barren dirt road next to a small tower in the middle of nowhere.

Not really having any idea what to do next, Gosunkugi decided to head west along the road, hoping to avoid any roaming cats that may happen to be wandering about. Not that he was _too_ scared of what might happen anymore.

Other than the fact that he had come across a cursed spell-trap while attempting to loot the abandoned hedge-wizard's tower, getting one of those coveted game preview tickets was turning out to be the best thing that ever happened to him!

We shall endeavor not to make the poor boy feel bad about the fact that becoming a mouse probably _raised_ his hit points from what they had been when he first arrived…

O O O

Ranma followed the stream until it left the confines of the woods and started across a grassy field, happy to note that the rather thick morning fog was finally beginning to thin out and disperse. Not too far away, she could just make out a female figure running naked across the field she had just entered as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"Nabiki? What the hell?" Several thoughts vied for attention in Ranma's befuddled head, some of it fairly contradictory, involving feeling glad to have found her while at the same time afraid of how much the middle Tendo sister was going to blackmail him for seeing her like this. Which was obviously stupid, since Ponygirls didn't care about money or personal possessions.

Wait…what?

Ponygirl…Ponygirl…. The thought churned through Ranma's mind as she pondered what it meant, and how she could tell, as the brunette didn't obviously _appear_ any different. At least not _physically_ different at any rate, as the middle Tendo sister did _not_ have the pony-like ears and tail that she _knew_ real Ponygirls had. But somehow Ranma could tell that Nabiki was now an animal rather than a person. She had no idea _how_ she knew, or _why_ she was inclined to accept it, but since it wasn't even half as crazy as some of the weird shit that happened around her during her life, Ranma just shrugged and went with it.

If Nabiki wanted to play Ponygirl, then so be it - Nabiki was a Ponygirl. And Ponygirls were domestic animals, suitable for draft, dairy, and riding purposes.

Wait a minute…

A Ponygirl meant something to ride!

"Yo! 'Biki!" Ranma called out across the field towards the bounding buxom babe. "Get your bare ass over here so I can ride you!"

The redhead was somewhat gratified when the faux Ponygirl stopped to look at her, then came running with a happy smile on her face. In short order, the naked girl ran into her arms.

"Ranma!" the Ponygirl exclaimed happily, recognizing the redhead and remembering her name.

"That's right, 'Biki, I'm Ranma," the shorter girl smiled amiably as she rubbed down the animal before her, making sure that there were no cuts or abrasions of note, nor any thorns or barbs. Of course, at the same time, she couldn't help but to admire Nabiki's lithe and supple nude form; now that she had the opportunity to do so without the distraction of imminent pain and possible death looming over her, as had become all too commonplace in her life whenever she'd been in the presence of a naked girl in the past.

As she cupped Nabiki's full, rounded breasts, finding them pleasantly firm to her touch, and slid her small hands over Nabiki's surprisingly firm, shapely bottom and well-toned thighs and legs, it didn't really occur to her to be embarrassed by openly groping a girl in such a manner. As far as she was concerned, Nabiki was just another beast of burden at the moment, perfectly suitable for draft, dairy, and riding purposes, or even put to other uses if need be. In fact, the short redhead found that she actually liked Nabiki better this way, as her fiancée's manipulative older sister was a lot friendlier to her as a dumb animal than she was as a somewhat mercenary hedonist.

Of course, since Nabiki was one of her fiancée's sisters, and couldn't be expected to take proper care of herself as she currently was, Ranma decided to claim the wayward Ponygirl as her own and prove to Akane that she could, in fact, be responsible. And of course, being a responsible individual (at least Ranma thought of herself as such), it was only proper that she _thoroughly_ examine Nabiki for any physical injury or potential health problems.

As Ranma began inspecting her new property, she couldn't help but to wonder what had prompted Nabiki to choose the role of an _animal_ for her 'game character,' as opposed to one of the sneaky or crafty types. Assuming, of course, that they were actually _in_ the game, as Ranma suspected, and not just randomly dumped naked in the middle of nowhere. Nabiki had gone on for days about how important class selection was, and how it was best for a new player to try each class at least briefly to see if it felt right for them. And yet here she was as a Ponygirl as opposed to one of the more clever or resourceful classes. Then again, Ranma seemed to remember Nabiki mentioning that it was sometimes fun or challenging to occasionally play as something completely different from yourself, so maybe Nabiki actually had been aiming for some mindless fun? The middle Tendo sister certainly seemed to be quite happy at the moment, her ever-present smirk displaced by a bright and cheerful, if somewhat ditzy, smile. Still, one could never be too sure with Nabiki…best to test the waters, so to speak, and see if Nabiki was actually as 'ditzy' as she appeared.

Casual… Ranma needed to be sneaky and casual about this…

Keeping her voice friendly and calm as she continued to tend to Nabiki's naked body, Ranma did her best to be subtle as she started talking to Nabiki. "You sure seem happy enough this way. And here I thought that you were just a selfish, greedy bitch who got her jollies tormenting others and taking away their money! Who knew that emptying that smart-ass head of yours would cause such an improvement?"

Apparently, Ranma's concept of subtlety was about as discrete as fishing with dynamite…

Fortunately for Ranma, Nabiki completely failed to understand that she had just been rather viciously insulted by the redheaded girl feeling her up (which felt _really_ good) Nabiki merely nodded happily and contributed to the conversation as intelligently as she currently knew how. "Ranma!"

"Yup, that's my name," Ranma agreed with a smile, fondling the taller girl's boobs playfully, having watched her face carefully while delivering her scathing insult. Not so much as a twitch. Nabiki really _was_ less intelligent now. The redhead considered the implications of this briefly before shrugging and deciding that Nabiki's loss of intelligence and current status as an animal was a perfectly acceptable improvement over the bitch that her fiancée's sister usually was. Sliding a hand down her body to blatantly grope Nabiki's firm bottom, Ranma continued, "Now, how about you let me ride you while we look for your sisters?"

"Ranma!" Nabiki nodded, turning about and kneeling down with her arms held slightly away from her body, clearly expecting and pleased for Ranma to 'mount her' piggyback style.

For her part, Ranma stepped up to the taller girl's back, holding onto her shoulders as Nabiki slid her own arms beneath Ranma's legs and lifted her from the ground as she stood back upright. Then, Nabiki just sort of stood there, shifting her grip on Ranma's legs to a more comfortable position, but otherwise clearly waiting for Ranma to do something. Wrapping her arms loosely about Nabiki's neck, Ranma said, "Giddyup!" But Nabiki continued to just stand there, fidgeting a bit in confusion. Hmm, clearly Nabiki wasn't trained to respond to verbal commands as of yet. And trying to smack her bottom, in this position, wasn't really an option. Hmm…how could she get Nabiki to start moving? And how could she control which direction Nabiki traveled in? It wasn't as if Nabiki had any reins or came with a steering wheel. Then, acting on some weird impulse, Ranma reached around Nabiki and firmly gripped the larger girl's full breasts in her small hands, ensuring that the hard nubbins of her nipples were placed between her fingers…and gave both breasts an experimental squeeze.

When her rider gave both boobs a tight squeeze, Nabiki took off like a shot, occasionally turning this way or that, or slowing down, or speeding up again as directed by the strength of her rider's grip on her bosom and the pinching of her nipples between her rider's fingers. Once again feeling both breasts being squeezed firmly, the Ponygirl picked up her speed until she was running as fast as she could in the indicated direction.

"Yahoo!" Ranma yelled out in abandon as she rode the Ponygirl, who was now running faster than any normal person of Nabiki's build and exercise experience had any right being capable of.

Nabiki, for her part, was happy enough to be running pell-mell wherever her rider wanted her to go as they looked for her sisters. She certainly felt healthier than before she had become a Ponygirl. Stronger too, and definitely faster, even with a rider. Maybe her sisters would like to be Ponygirls too? It was a lot of fun, and she no longer had to worry about…whatever it was she was worried about before.

At any rate, it couldn't have been important anyway…

O O O

Akane _finally_ caught sight of a road across the beclouded field and swiftly made her way to it.

"Hey!"

Akane looked around for the source of the faint, high-pitched voice.

"Down here! You almost stepped on me!"

"A talking mouse?" Akane pondered, kneeling on the ground and bending forward to get a better look.

The grey-furred mouse was actually kind of cute, what with how it held its little head between its paws, squeaking, "Akane…" before passing out from hormonal overload. Subconsciously, the youngest Tendo daughter filled in the rest of the statement with the vaguely remembered "spoke to me," that she sort of heard from time to time coming from somebody…err…who was it again?

"Gosunkugi?"

Fortunately for the magical mouse, while Akane's guess as to its identity was indeed accurate, her subconscious was _way_ off base as to just why it was reacting in such a manner, as Gosunkugi had been thinking about something entirely different than the fact that Akane had spoken to him. Something to do with the fact that, as Akane had knelt down for a better look at him, her tattered loincloth had hidden absolutely nothing at all of her nether regions, especially from his perspective…

So, Gosunkugi once again narrowly avoids a brush with death…

O O O

As Kasumi made her way down the dirt road the fog gradually dissipated, and the day became bright and sunny. Eventually, she spotted a pair of girls in the distance heading towards her; a redhead wearing rags and riding a nude, shorthaired brunette, both of whom she quickly recognized.

Without changing her pace, the new Priestess found herself meeting up with the pair soon enough. "Hello, Ranma, Nabiki," the bare-breasted ascetic greeted serenely.

"Kasumi? Ah…err…um…" Ranma stammered, trying to come up with a polite way of asking the older girl if she was aware that her surprisingly large boobs were swaying free in the open for anyone to see…and hoping that she didn't notice that her riding of Kasumi's younger sister had left her more than a little aroused, with stiffened nipples poking into the Ponygirl's back. Somehow, though, it never occurred to her to also be embarrassed about the fact that she was, in fact, 'riding' the older girl's sister while wearing a tunic so threadbare that it barely counted as clothing anymore.

"Kasumi!" Nabiki greeted cheerfully. And then she introduced her rider in case her older sister forgot who the redheaded girl was, "Ranma!"

"Yes, I can see that it's Ranma, silly girl," Kasumi chided the Ponygirl amiably as she considered how much more at peace her sister seemed with herself as an animal rather than a person.

"So," Ranma began as she hopped down and gave 'Biki's bare ass a friendly slap to send her over to a nearby apple tree, "any idea what happened to us? I mean, one moment I'm chopping in…"

"It's called 'logging in', Ranma," Kasumi gently corrected.

"Yeah, that," Ranma nodded, filing the fact away under the heading of 'Uninteresting, but possibly useful information' for later. A rather leaky mental file at that, containing as it did the bulk of Ranma's social graces and basic education, as opposed to the all-important, tightly-sealed drum which held her accumulated martial arts skills. "Anyway, I'm loggin' in one second, and the next I'm waking up naked in the middle of the woods as a girl! Doesn't make any sense! I mean, if they were going to rob us blind, including our clothes, wouldn't they have at least had us bring something…I dunno…actually _worth_ stealing?"

"Apple!" Nabiki interjected happily, shoving a firm specimen of said fruit in front of her sister's face as she bounced up to the two.

"I think we may be in the world setting of the game we were supposed to play," Kasumi replied to Ranma's question, even as she took the apple her sister offered and gently, but firmly, placed a hand on Nabiki's buttocks and pushed her back towards the tree again. "I'm pretty sure we took the roles of our characters. I know I was aiming for some sort of support role outside of direct conflict when I was answering that questionnaire. Why else would I become a Priestess and have come across my first vestments so quickly?"

"You mean those forms actua¾" Ranma was rather rudely interrupted by Nabiki bouncing up to them again and trying to cram an apple into her mouth.

"Apple!" the cheerful Ponygirl announced proudly, oblivious to the fact that the short redhead was writhing on the ground trying to cough out bits of fruit that she had inadvertently half-swallowed. Kasumi quickly rushed over and placed her hands between Ranma's shoulder blades, releasing a pulse of white energy.

"Gah!" Ranma choked out, finally able to breath again. "'Biki! No more apples! Got that, girl?"

"Apple?" Nabiki asked, confused about why her friend didn't want any of the delicious fruit.

"I can't believe I miss the bitchy 'Biki already," Ranma muttered under her breath. "I don't suppose there's a way to change Nabiki back to the way she was before, is there?"

Despite the fact that the question was both rhetorical and directed at Kasumi, the group was startled when a transparent display screen popped out of nowhere and started scrolling a message.

**[Nabiki Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: Property of Ranma Saotome]**

**[]**

**[Combat Class: Slave/Ponygirl (Dual Class)] [Level: 1/1] [Active Class: Slave]**

**[Combat Role: Combat Pet for Ranma Saotome, distract enemies, inflict low damage]**

**[Armor Type: Collars and Harnesses Only]**

**[Weapon Types: Unarmed, None permitted due to Secondary Class Restrictions]**

**[Regular Moves: Dance, Sing, Slap, Stab, Kick, Flee]**

**[Special Moves: Jiggle, Bounce, Sway, Seduce]**

**[]**

**[Equipped Armor: None]**

**[Cannot Equip Weapons Due to Secondary Class Restrictions]**

**[Inventory: Empty]**

**[Money: N/A]**

**[]**

**[Base Combat Statistics While in Primary Class]**

**[Hit Points: 3] [Mana: 2] [Ki: 1]**

**[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]**

**[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 5]**

Nabiki blinked, shook her head, and blinked again, as she suddenly remembered everything she had lost a few short hours ago. And then she blinked again as she recalled everything that had occurred _during_ those few short hours, including how she had felt when she was behaving and being treated as if she were nothing more than a domestic animal.

Then Nabiki curled up on herself and began to cry as the _real_ horror of what had happened set in. She never, _ever_ wanted to be that dumb again; and yet, she had felt so happy and carefree _while_ she was in that state that she now craved it more than anything she ever had before.

It was true what they say…

Ignorance is bliss.

**END CHAPTER ONE**


	2. Chapter 2

_**QUESTS of CHAOS**_

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR:

Seriously, this story exists to get these urges _out_ of my system so they don't keep showing up as badly in my _other_ fanfics. It is a parody, and parts of it are certainly pointlessly gratuitous and likely to remain that way. But as someone had pointed out, once the girls start leveling up, they likely _will_ start to be able to wear more.

Well, except for Nabiki, unless she manages to get the system to agree to let her drop the Ponygirl class appended to her…

PRE-READING AND EDITING ASSISTANCE BY:

Lord Talon,

Tai Khan,

7 Winds,

…and some guy named Steve

SPECIAL CREDIT TO:

Tai Khan, who pointed out what should have been a rather obvious flaw in this chapter, considering that he recognized the genre being parodied…

Pesterfield, although it still took me a while to track down the spelling errors that had snuck past me…

LAST EDITED:

1/1/2012

1/23/2011 - Additional scenes and clarification both prompted and (in some cases provided) by Tai Khan).

DISCLAIMER:

_Ranma ½_ and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfic has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfic may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanfics, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even _*gasp*_ American comic books!).

TAGS:

Comedy/Adventure/Drama with frequent gratuitous (and possibly unnecessary) nudity, and a fresh lemon scent…

Things aren't looking good for Nabiki at the moment. Will she be able to keep Kasumi and Ranma on track now that the two consider her to be an animal part of the time, or is the Nerima variant of Attention Deficit Disorder due to rear its ugly head?

**CHAPTER TWO**

_~ Flashback: Shortly after Ranma and the Tendo sisters entered the Quests of Chaos…~_

Shampoo carefully slipped into the booth she was sure her beloved Ranma had entered. She hadn't bothered securing a contest ticket at first simply because Ranma had not won one himself and the prize offered didn't seem to be something that he was particularly interested in. For that matter, she wasn't really interested in acquiring some useless outsider game thingy either, so she had instead planned to take advantage of the Tendo sisters absence on this weekend to visit him and ply him with foodstuffs…and her own voluptuous body. However, it turned out that the mercenary sister had been permitted to bring along guests, and had chosen Ranma as well as her sisters to attend whatever this event was together.

Not that Shampoo blamed the greedy and manipulative bitch, given that Ranma was the best choice for a companion or guardian should she need one, and Nabiki's sisters were both heads and shoulders above the worth of either of the fathers, even with Kasumi being too-too nice girl and presumably no good in a fight.

By now it was far too late to simply try to take a ticket from one of the other winners. Great-Grandmother had warned her from that course, stating that the contestants had long since filled out forms and sent in pictures of themselves, so she couldn't simply take the place of one. Spatula-girl had also won a ticket, but aside from taking that ninja-girl servant of hers along as a guest had had to return the other guest vouchers as they had been the only two residents in the apartment over their restaurant. A suspiciously short time later, Stick-boy and Ribbon-girl had announced that they had also 'won' a pair of tickets, although many believed that it was nothing more than a case of too-too deep pockets that had obtained them their prize, especially as it was supposed to be only 'one winner per household'. Shampoo suspected that if either of them had actually 'won' a ticket, then the other was actually their sibling's 'guest', but both were too prideful to ever admit to such a lowly status. Still, _one_ of them had a ticket and if she followed them, then surely there would be _some_ chance to get close to her beloved while he was separated from the others.

The place Shampoo had followed Stick-boy and Ribbon-girl to was actually rather impressive, although Shampoo would never admit it. For one thing, the building itself was one of those towering pillars of steel, stone, and glass that the sillier outsiders seemed to prefer for their massively overpopulated cities. She doubted that the inhabitants knew even a fraction of their neighbors in just this building alone, never mind being familiar with anyone else in the city. Besides a pool, the tower was attached to another building that was much shorter and wider by comparison, although still rather impressively large. And, astonishingly enough, mostly devoid of permanent interior rooms, with most of the space being taken up by some sort of grand hall large enough to put a small village in, complete with actual tents, huts, stalls, and other temporary structures, and too-too many people to count!

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the pavilions were quite prominently labeled, and that Shampoo knew which one her quarry was supposed to be heading for, she would have despaired her ability to keep track of her beloved in this place! At least in Nerima, Ranma tended to stick out, as opposed to here where at least half the people were acting strange and dressed in unusual and colorful costumes. Not that she hadn't seen such before, what with the number of bizarre folk that occasionally tracked down her beloved in order to challenge him, but to see so many of them congregated in one area without any of the more normally clad people reacting as if it were strange or unusual was kind of freaking her out.

Yes, folks, Shampoo has discovered Japanese cos-players in their natural habitat!

Steeling her nerve, Shampoo headed for the large indoor tent advertising itself as belonging to the Olympus Group and hosting the Quests of Chaos competition, certain that she'd have more peace of mind focusing on just that small portion of this circus bizarre. Sure enough, she spotted her quarry entering the pavilion along with her rivals and several other people of no importance. Even slipping in behind the group proved simple enough as long as she was careful to keep out of line of sight of those she knew would recognize her.

In any event, she was sure that Ranma had gone through _that_ door, alone. And since everyone else was lead to their _own_ booths, then _this_ must be the chance she was looking for! Heh…while everyone else would be trying to gain her beloved's attention in that silly TV game thingy, _Shampoo_ would be the one to monopolize Ranma directly in person in complete privacy! Shampoo smiled, impishly, as she noted that the booths only had the one door and weren't all that large; and based on a quick glimpse inside a booth one of the others had entered, fairly dark and cozy inside. There would be nowhere for Ranma to run to once she was inside and stationed in front of the only exit.

Her opportunity arrived when the huge TV screen suspended against the far wall lit up, accompanied by some spokesman's announcement that the audience would now be treated to watching the game demonstration live as it was being played. With nearly everyone's attention focused on the huge TV screen, Shampoo had no difficulty quietly sidling up to the door of Ranma's private booth and quickly ducking inside unnoticed. And, as expected, it was fairly dark inside the booth, but not entirely dark; between the large TV screen to one side of her and the softly glowing gems inset into the structure around the chair to the other, Shampoo had no difficulty seeing that her beloved was not present inside the booth.

Curiously, however, Shampoo noticed what appeared to be her beloved's clothing lying crumpled in disarray in the chair. Muttering imprecations and invectives in her native dialect under her breath, Shampoo began a careful search of the booth interior looking for any concealed exits through which her beloved may have escaped. The fact that her beloved had apparently, somehow, managed to sneak out of the booth unobserved, and done so while in the nude, did not sit well with her at all. But aside for an access panel, that was far too small for Ranma, or even a small child, to fit through…she could find no way out of the booth other than the door through which they had both entered.

Hmm, could the chair itself possibly drop down through the floor, like she'd seen in that one spy movie?

Lifting the fold-away panel, with its strange typewriter keyboard, aside, Shampoo plopped down into the chair atop Ranma's clothing and lowered the panel back into place across her lap. Shampoo first tried pushing and twisting at the softly glowing gems inset into the interior of the chair walls, but none behaved like a button or knob to activate a secret door or anything. Idly, she noted that the television screen was displaying a panoramic view of a very inviting natural setting, much like she'd noted as being displayed on the much large television outside of the booth. But unlike on the television outside the booth, the one inside was not displaying any of the 'players' as they began their 'adventures' in the game being demonstrated. Frustrated, Shampoo finally turned her attention to the odd typewriter keyboard inset into the fold-away panel. With the exception of there being no place to insert any paper, it appeared to be a fairly ordinary keyboard that could be found on any electric typewriter (Shampoo had never used one, but she'd seen a few)…although the ten-key setup to one side was new and there were a few buttons that she didn't recognize. Then, to the right of the odd keyboard, there was a smooth, featureless area inset into the fold-away panel. Shampoo hadn't a clue as to what it was used for, save possibly to hold and prevent writing instruments from rolling away. Idly, Shampoo began to drum her fingers on the inset area as she fumed over her inability to locate her beloved. She never noticed the gem set into the ceiling of the chair cowling begin to glow a little brighter just before all the odd runes and glyphs and symbols painted everywhere about the interior of the booth suddenly flared up…

A moment later, as Shampoos now empty clothing settled into place overtop Ranma's own equally vacant set, a message appeared on the monitor screen:

**[Illegal Entry! Undocumented Contestant!]**

**[Account Locked Pending Review by an ADMIN]**

A few moments later, a couple of technicians entered the booth.

"Looks like someone snuck in after that Saotome kid who got sent in with the Tendo daughters," stated one, as he pulled an oddly-shaped, rune-inscribed, cover from the pocket of his lab-coat and fitted it securely over the glowing gem in the ceiling of the chair cowling before lifting the fold-away panel aside and rummaging through the discarded clothing on the chair until he found a pair of crystalline "cards" bearing internally engraved nude images of a Japanese boy and a Chinese girl. He tossed the extra card carelessly into a case, commenting, "I'll just isolate the 'account' so that it can be studied and properly prepared for insertion later."

"Looks like it was a girl," commented the other guy, holding up a pair of silk lavender bikini-brief panties. "No bra…" he added, after going through the clothes again. "Whoever she is, she might fit right in with the test setting, depending on where she's placed."

"Okay, as far as I can tell, it's just been the two entries on this station, with one account sent in and the other locked in holding, pending review. Should I set up the dummy system now, or leave the spell-trap set for the next subject? And stop sniffing those things; you can indulge yourself on your own time."

Smirking, the other man pulled the panties away from his nose and unashamedly stuffed them into a pocket of his lab coat, before responding. "According to the schedule, we're to set up the dummy system after lunch, so we can actually have some random walk-ins try out 'the game' with the time 'left over' from the 'contestants leaving for the day'."

"What if we have more sneak-ins?"

"Eh, what's a few more test subjects, more or less? And if they're girls…well, I can always use more panties for my collection."

"You're a pervert; you know that, right?"

"Aren't we all?"

"Some more than others…"

_~End Flashback~_

O O O

Konatsu Kenzan, Ukyo's devoted servant and, formerly, the only _male_ genius kunoichi anyone had ever heard of, felt remarkably little alarm about _her_ current condition in the 'world' provided by the game she had entered as her Mistress' guest.

A _big_ part of this lack of alarm had to do with her poor understanding of Ukyo's explanation about how the characters one played in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) could differ from the players using them greatly, including such things as actual gender, race, or even species. As far as Konatsu knew, it was entirely possible that _actually_ being drawn into the game setting and becoming female was perfectly normal.

Thinking about it, she supposed that her character turning out to be female _did_ make sense, given that it was pre-generated using information that she had provided on the questionnaire forms. She still thought of herself as being female, and still habitually marked herself as such on any documents she had to fill out due to the lifelong conditioning inflicted on her by her disreputable former stepfamily despite having recently been made aware of what her true gender actually was since coming to Nerima.

Actually finally having the correct _physical_ body to go along with her self-image was proving to be an enlightening experience, and she was beginning to feel good about herself for the first time since discovering the disparity between what she thought she was and what she really was.

Taking stock of her situation, Konatsu mentally summed up what she had accomplished so far in the game:

* She had discovered, accessed, and actually read through the tutorial as Mistress Ukyo had advised her to.

* She knew that her game class was essentially identical to her real life vocation as a ninja, although there were some level restrictions involved.

* She had found her ninja starting gear, which consisted of a dark blue bandanna to wear on the lower half of her face, a dark blue micro-kini thong brief that only just barely covered her now 'correct' nether region, and a somewhat worn wooden replica of a kunai.

* And finally, she had her first ever actual 'ninja' mission! Well, actually the mission was technically to find her Mistress, which she had been intending to do anyway, but it was nice for the game to list it as an actual goal…

And so the kunoichi, who now actually _was_ a Kunoichi in more than just lifestyle and self-perception, set out to explore this strange, new and wonderful world…

O O O

After Nabiki had recovered somewhat from her breakdown, she showed Ranma and Kasumi what she had discovered about the floating display screen, and the tutorial, map, and player manual that it allowed access to. From there, the other two called up their own screens and began checking them out along with her. Well, Kasumi was anyway. Ranma had somehow managed to find a way to combine their maps so that each copy now showed all areas that any of them had been.

"Wow, 'Biki! You sure covered a _lot_ of ground as a Ponygirl!" Ranma commented, clearly impressed by the amount of territory she had covered since acquiring her penalty Dual Class set. "From the look of the map, you managed to cover most of this part of the starting area."

"Look," Nabiki complained, "can we _not_ talk about what I did as a Ponygirl? It's bad enough that I'm dual-classing as one, let alone the fact that I'm otherwise a Slave and thus property in either case. All because whoever did this to us apparently has a vendetta against the women of the Tendo family!"

"What do you mean, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked politely.

"What I mean is, if I'm reading this right, the whole starting area, besides being a 'tutorial' for beginning 'players', is also one big damned spell-trap designed to screw the players over before we even enter the actual 'game world'! _Especially_ if we happen to be Tendo and female!" Nabiki ranted. "The starting island is where we are supposed to become acclimated to the setting, learning at least the basics of how to do things and what to expect, but the longer we _stay_ in the starting area, the more acclimated we become and we start losing parts of ourselves to our assigned roles."

"Phshyeah, right," Ranma snorted. "Like that's going to happen."

"It's already happening, Ranma," Nabiki argued, "or do you think Kasumi would _normally_ be comfortable with how she's currently dressed?"

"How the hell would _I_ know? She seems about as happy as she always is, and it's not like anyone actually leaves me alone long enough to actually get to _know_ anyone who doesn't actively try to talk to me regularly. For all I know, she's got whips and chains in her closet or something."

Nabiki blinked at that information, filing it away for later.

"Oh my, Ranma," the rather questionably garbed Priestess interjected calmly, "I certainly do not have any such articles stored in my closet." Pausing for a moment as she looked up thoughtfully, Kasumi continued, "Although, Nabiki _does_ have a set of padded handcuffs in her closet, and Akane started collecting black pigtailed wigs and red silk shirts shortly after you arrived…"

"Ranma didn't need to know that," Nabiki muttered.

"What? I already knew about the wigs and the shirts, Nabiki. Akane dresses the straw training dummies in them all the time."

"I meant the cuffs."

"What about 'em? So you're into escape training. I could give you pointers if you like - Pop put me through the various ways to deal with handcuffs when I was ten.'

Both Nabiki and Kasumi blinked as they realized that Ranma honestly had no idea what they were talking about…

O O O

Ukyo struggled vainly against her bonds as the tribe of bunny-sized chipmunks were once again applying a rub of herbs and seasonings to her naked body as they debated in rapid, high-pitched voices about how they were going to cook her _this_ time, in the same disturbingly cute musical song and dance routine that they had already used the _first_ two times.

And to think, the first time she had seen the evil little cannibal tree-weasels, she had gone all starry-eyed about meeting 'real life' versions of the musical American anime stars…

And the little bastards were damn spawn-campers on top of everything else, seeing as how they kept recapturing her so quickly every time she spawned a new body.

Which was a bit of a shock the first time, but while still surprising in the fact that she was re-spawning _at all_, the experience was getting _real_ old, real fast. Especially since her first and _second_ bodies were still being cooked, respectively in a large cast iron cauldron and rotating over a large open fire impaled on a spit. Slowly being boiled alive hadn't been nearly as painful as having that thick spit shoved up her ass and out her mouth and then rotated over an open fire as she bled out, and she was certain that she was going to be having nightmares from both experiences for the rest of her life. She was _not_ looking forward to how they 'prepared' her for consumption this time; so far, the leading favorites were 'grilling' and 'baking'.

On top of all that, despite the horror and trauma the singing tree weasels had already inflicted on her, their musical song and dance performance was so captivating that she literally couldn't resist humming along, bobbing her head to the beat, and singing out _her own_ suggestions for how to prepare herself to be cooked this time when prompted at the appropriate refrain prtions of their song. Proposals that she sang out in a cheerful, upbeat manner as if she were actually _delighted_ to be used repeatedly as their village feast's central ingredient!

The most terrifying aspect of the little monsters' performance was that _every single time_ the musical chorus waxed lyrical about how best to prepare her for their feast, Ukyo found that she really did sincerely want to help them enjoy having her as the erotically presented main course for their celebration! At least until she sang out her next tip or recommendation, after which she was once again free to experience her true emotions until the subject of the ballad turned to how to cook her once again.

"Hey you little perverts! Leave Ukyo alone!"

Hope briefly rose in Ukyo's heart until she saw that Akane was alone and had nothing but a wooden sword and a flimsy-looking wooden shield. And her despair grew as she saw Akane notice her other two bodies and the state they were in, causing her would be rescuer to freeze up as the horrid little beasts rushed towards her as they rapidly abandoned their previous song in favor of one about how best to add the new girl to their village feast. Any moment now, Ukyo expected Akane to drop her weapons and surrender herself to the insidious lyrics, just as she herself had…

Wait…

Did Akane's eyes just start glowing with a sinister red light?

And did she just fling a _mouse_ at her?"

"**RRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!"**

"Don't worry, Miss Kuonji, I'll have these cords taken care of shortly…"

"But what about Akane?" asked the bewildered cook-turned-main-course, the fact that the mouse was actually _talking_ to her not even causing her pause after all that she'd seen and been through already…especially in the last few hours.

The ground shook briefly and Ukyo thought she saw Akane's weapon turn from a giant mallet back into a wooden sword as the horde of tiny opponents went flying in every conceivable direction.

"She should be able to hold her own long enough until we can _both_ join the battle."

Thinking on that for a moment, the traumatized (and tenderized…and seasoned…) chef began to feel better about her situation. Then she began to giggle madly and started humming a parody of a holiday song that seemed all too appropriate for her brand new plans of vengeance…

"Chipmu~nks roas~ting over an open fi~ire…"

As he nibbled on the cords binding the naked chef, the mouse, formerly known as Hikaru Gosunkugi, wondered why all the cute ones had to be crazy…

O O O

Tatewaki Kuno pondered over the odd customs the locals had as he obligingly escorted the two comely maidens he had rescued back towards their home village.

At first, he had despaired for his dignity since arriving in this place after falling for what must have been one of the foul sorcerer Saotome's evil tricks. Especially as all he had managed to find at first had been a sort of battered leather codpiece that dangled freely from a waist-strap and a cheap bokken that his practiced eye could tell was third rate at best - if even that.

But neither the bandits nor the fair damsels he rescued from them were really wearing anything much better than he was, and neither maiden seemed to think anything odd about his or their apparel. So instead, Kuno just decided to follow the age old adage of 'When in Rome…' and enjoy the attentions of two lovely bare-bosomed ladies as a properly stoic warrior-adventurer should, even if neither of them were either Akane Tendo or the Pigtailed Girl.

Besides, they had mentioned that the village would probably reward him for taking care of the bandits before the ruffians' gang got too big, and he needed the money to buy some _decent_ equipment.

The third rate bokken had cracked and split apart on the second swing, and it had only been by quickly taking up one of the crude cudgels dropped by the first two bandits that he'd been able to disarm and defeat the rest…

O O O

"Wow…. Somebody tore up _this_ camp pretty good," Ranma commented, noting the knocked over and torn tents, the massive scorch marks scattered about that were centered on tiny, crispy skeletons, the craters with bloody, mangled, and flat-out _squashed_ furry critters, and the occasional…were the brown ones with the black-and-white stripes down their backs badgers or groundhogs? Anyway, the occasional whatever-they-were with their heads twisted all the way around.

Whoever did this obviously didn't like these critters very much. Then again, since some of the tents appeared to be made of _human_ skin, Ranma conceded that they probably had good reason to wipe them out so completely.

"Oh my…" Kasumi exclaimed in a slightly less mild tone than her usual one. "Is that Ukyo roasting on that spit?"

"What?" Nabiki could swear that she felt the local temperature drop a few degrees as Ranma's voice took on an almost dead tone. The body spitted over the fire, the arms and legs secured to the torso like a trussed-up chicken, was badly blistered and _all_ of the hair had already burned away, but the face was still recognizable as being that of Ranma's oldest friend…even with the thick spit distorting the lower portion of the face as it emerged from the mouth.

"I think that's her again in that spilled-over pot," Nabiki couldn't help but point out, noting that a rime of frost was beginning to form around the redhead who was now trembling in barely controlled rage. This one was also somewhat distorted due to what had been done to it, with large sections of skin beginning to slough off, but the face was still recognizable as belonging to Ukyo Kuonji.

"Hey!" A high-pitched squeaky voice drew the three's attention to a horde of rabbit-sized talking chipmunks that had just crested the next hill. "The feast is still on! The Berserker and Mouse Mage are gone! These are just a Rogue, a Slave, and a Priestess! Easy peasy!"

"Oh my…" Kasumi worried as she took position to the rear of the party as Ranma looked down for a moment and collected herself.

"They die…" Ranma said quietly, right before looking up again with death in her eyes. "They _all_ die! Let _none_ of them get away!"

With that, the short redhead took off like a shot…right for the thickest grouping of the little monsters, disrupting them just as they tried to start up some sort of song and dance routine..

**[Player Ranma Saotome is using combat moves unavailable to a Level One Rogue…]**

"Well, that _was_ her best friend over there…and over _there_…so how about cutting Ranma-chan some slack and adjusting her Class to one that can _legally_ fight the way she is fighting?" Nabiki proposed to the display screen that had appeared in the air beside her, not wanting to experience the whole 're-spawn' effect firsthand just yet. Or ever, really. Seemed creepy, and dying in general would probably prove to be quite painful as the player's manual had stated that it would only occur when character death was imminent and certain. The fact that the player's manual had gone on to explain that any memories the Player retained of their death, or the events leading up to said death, would be 'muted' in order to avoid 'severely' traumatizing the Player, but doing nothing to prevent lesser forms of trauma or mental scarring…was _not_ the least bit comforting.

**[Suggestion Noted - Initial ruling until further consideration is nominally in Player Ranma Saotome's favor. Seeking Combat Class with closest match to combat abilities currently being displayed by Player Ranma Saotome. Match Found - Applying Rogue/Dancer Fusion Class: Battle Dancer to Player Ranma Saotome.]**

"I hardly think it's fair that Ranma actually get's an _improved_ class in the middle of combat while I got nailed with a cursed dual class set as a Slave/Ponygirl," Nabiki commented darkly as she watched Ranma's tunic and belt suddenly pop off of her and reappear in mid air about an arm's length to the now naked redhead's left.

**[Player Nabiki Tendo's complaint has been registered and will be reviewed with all the consideration due to a Player currently holding the status as Property of Another Player.]**

"Which is to say 'none,' right?" Nabiki guesses sarcastically as she glared at the screen that represented her unseen nemesis.

**[Player Nabiki Tendo is correct! Award Selected: Collar with Name Tag]**

"Damn it," Nabiki swore as the offending article suddenly appeared around her neck. Then she noticed that part of the horde of furry menaces had separated from the slaughter Saotome was inflicting on the main group and was now charging towards Kasumi and herself. Trying not to panic, Nabiki did the first thing that popped into her head and performed one of the supposed 'special' moves of her Slave class: _Jiggle_.

Surprisingly, this caused them all, male and female alike, to stop in their tracks and stare at the hypnotic motion of her bare boobs with little hearts in their eyes…

Right up until Kasumi calmly walked up to them and tossed each of them, one at a time, back over to where Ranma was literally tearing all the others apart.

"I'm kind of frightened that that worked," Nabiki commented as she stopped her special move and kept watch for more of the little bastards.

"It was certainly a lot better than if it didn't work," Kasumi replied in a disturbingly peaceful tone. "I don't think either of us would have fared as well as Ranma's little friend, Ukyo, must have. And she fell to them at least twice."

"Can you heal Saotome from here, Kasumi? She seems to be a bit messed up now…" the naked brunette worried.

"I can try, but I don't think any of that blood is actually hers…"

O O O

Some distance away, Akane, Ukyo, and Gosunkugi had stopped to set up a small camp with the supplies they had raided from the village of cannibal chipmunks.

"Think we're far enough away?" Ukyo asked, trying not to think about who their new tent might have been made from.

"Probably," Akane replied, feeling a bit high-spirited from the post-battle adrenaline rush. She was trying not to think about what had happened _immediately_ after the battle as she came out of her battle-rage flush with the euphoria of victory and had given Ukyo a quick grope and a _very_ intense kiss on the lips, complete with tongue action. Surprisingly, it had been a rather…nice experience, and not at all as gross as she had previously imagined. Equally surprising was the other girl's lack of resistance or bad reaction to her spontaneously direct forwardness, but she supposed that they had both been caught up in the heat of the moment, as neither of them were actively talking about what had happened.

And, rather than continue _thinking_ about how nice the kiss was or how good Ukyo's boobs and ass had felt in her hands, Akane redirected her focus to something…safer. "You were saying something about roasting these?" she asked, tossing the only survivors of the oversized-chipmunk horde next to the fire M-chan had just lit.

The newly dubbed M-chan just shrugged at his new name and tried not to think about the fact that the two girls were about to kill, cook, and eat the tied up _talking_ animals. A group that he was tentatively now a part of, now that he was a talking mouse. Instead he decided to reflect on the hot girl-on-girl action that seemed to be developing between his two companions after the battle, wondering if it would progress further should the two decide to go at it again.

In that respect, M-chan decided that perhaps it _did_ pay off on occasion to fly so far beneath everyone's notice…

"Oh yeah, I definitely want to have me some tree-weasel for dinner tonight!" Ukyo agreed as she looked about for a couple of suitable sticks to use as impromptu spits.

Akane just shrugged as she continued setting up their camp and pondered who would take first watch. Ukyo's slightly mad giggling about the ultimate fate of those last two furry little perverts _might_ have bothered her if she didn't know for a fact that they had killed the girl at least twice already and had been in the process of preparing her to be cooked _yet again_ when she and M-chan had rescued her. Instead, she decided that the little monsters deserved what was about to happen to them.

The two bound, oversized chipmunks, one who _had_ been wearing a red cap before it was lost during the battle and the other a chubby one who had been captured because he had stopped to eat part of the delicious smelling stew, both shivered in fear as they overheard the two girls talking about them…

Later, after they'd re-spawned and made their way back to where their village was _supposed_ to be, they would wonder if they might have actually been the lucky ones, as there were enough chipmunk body parts scattered about to account for everyone in their tribe five times over…

O O O

"This is actually pretty good, Ranma," Nabiki complimented the naked redhead as the three continued on their way, each nibbling on their own fire-roasted chipmunk-on-a-stick.

"Eh, I picked up a lot on how to do this sort of thing living on the road with Pop," Ranma replied offhandedly. "Now, will someone please explain why I can somehow _not_ wear the shirt I had found earlier?" While she had barely noticed when her tunic had popped off of her to reappear about three feet to her left during the battle, she did find it odd that it had done so, and annoying that she apparently couldn't put it back on, no matter how hard she tried to do so.

"It's outside of what you're allowed to wear due to your new class restrictions, Ranma," Nabiki answered.

"Well, that's stupid."

"I'm not arguing there."

"Why'd my supposed class change? And what the hell is a _Battle Dancer_, anyway?"

"The tutorial warned that you were using combat moves your previous class shouldn't have. Would you rather have suddenly found yourself losing your martial arts skills or even _worse_, being slapped with a penalty class like my stupid dual set?"

"Bah," Ranma huffed in denial, "like I could lose my martial arts skills just because some stupid _rules_ say so…"

"Ranma," the naked brunette replied sternly, "when I'm a _Ponygirl_, I can't count past two, and even _that_ lofty number is apparently only reachable because I seem to consider my breasts to be counting aids! I _barely_ understand what anyone is saying, and am too dumb to realize that I _shouldn't_ be perfectly happy to be treated like an animal! _And_ neither of you seem to have any problem at all with treating me like one when I'm like that either! It's bad enough that you both seem perfectly fine treating me as a slave when I'm in _this_ Class!"

"Well…" Ranma paused, feeling bad about not having consciously registered any of that before now, "it's not like you have to switch back to that class, is it? I mean, you can just keep using the Slave class, right? And what's wrong with treating a Slave as a Slave, anyway?"

"Nothing at all, Ranma," Kasumi reassured her short, naked, redheaded traveling companion, which elicited a groan from her sister. "None of that now, Nabiki," she admonished, "you are currently a Slave, so you'll just have to learn to deal with being treated like one."

"I hate this stupid game world…" Nabiki began to grumble under her breath.

"Anyway," Kasumi interjected abruptly, having no interest in hearing her sister continue whining about her low social status, "Nabiki doesn't have any choice in the matter. Unless she chooses to have her two classes fused together like what happened with you, the rules won't let either of her classes reach more than a single level higher than the other. If she stays in her Slave class long enough to crest to the next level _past_ that, she will then be stuck in the other class until they are both equally aligned once again."

"Well…_that_ sucks," Ranma pouted.

"I couldn't agree more," Nabiki groused, more than a bit put out by her normally sweet and kindly elder sister dismissing her so readily.

"I think that it's good for you," Kasumi pointed out with a serene smile. "You're obviously so much more at peace with yourself as a cute little Ponygirl."

Both Ranma and Nabiki just stared at the older girl as she walked on without them. _After_ they recovered from their impromptu face-fault.

"Now _that's_ scary…"

"You said it, Saotome…"

O O O

Konatsu got the impression that the remains of the monster camp she had found had been farmed until the little beasts had decided to cut their losses and re-spawn elsewhere so as to come back after the players got bored and left, packing up as much as they could in a hurry and leaving before said players came back to kill them all yet again.

It really was the only explanation for the scene she came across that fit in with what she had read in the tutorial.

Still, whoever, or whatever, the little monsters had been that had called this encampment home, they had left in enough of a hurry that there were still bits of some creature that they had been roasting on a spit, as well as some rather tasty stew.

Konatsu wondered what kind of creature the meat she was eating had come from, guessing it to perhaps be some sort of pork from the color, taste and texture. Hmm, wild boar perhaps?

Whatever it was, it was quite tasty, even after being a bit overcooked from being abandoned with the fires still going. Maybe the monsters left behind a recipe she could loot for use back in Mistress Ukyo's restaurant once they got out of the game…

O O O

"Well, _there's_ something I never expected to see," Ukyo commented as she and Akane came across a small herd of wild Ponygirls after setting off the next day.

"Huh…" Akane huffed as she took in the sight curiously. "Is it just me, or do some of those look kind of like Nabiki and Shampoo?"

"Yes," the nude chef replied, "yes, they do. Think any of them actually _are_ either of them?"

"Nah. I don't know _how_ I can tell, but none of them actually are my sister or the bimbo," Akane responded. At first, she'd thought the Ponygirls just had _very_ long hair, out of which protruded a pair of horse-like ears, but upon paying closer attention she realized that they all had luxurious tails that twitched and swayed casually from side to side as they ambled about. "Dibs on one of the ones that look like Shampoo!" Akane called out as she began running towards the herd.

"Hah! I'd rather ride one of the ones that look like your bitch of a sister!" Ukyo yelled out as she joined the other girl in chasing down their new mounts…

It never even once occurred to either of the girls, nor to M-chan, to wonder why none of them had any problem considering the Ponygirls that they were chasing down to be nothing more than animals…

O O O

"Goodbye, Hero," the village leader, and father of the two girls that the wandering warrior had rescued called out to the brave young man. "Are you _sure_ you can't stay and become the village guardian?"

"Nay, good Sir. I cannot, in good conscience, abandon my quest to rescue the fair Akane Tendo and the fiery Pigtailed Girl from the foul sorcerer Saotome."

"Sounds like you have a rough journey ahead of you, young man. At the very least, why don't you let an old man help you out…? Tell you what, we only have a few Ponygirls to serve the draft and dairy needs of our village, but you're welcome to have your pick of the lot as a mount."

"Very well," Kuno accepted graciously. "Lead me to them and I'll see if any are worthy to bear my noble self."

A short walk later left the warrior much more enthusiastic about his prospects.

"What is this? I see two of them share the very visage of my beloved maidens! I must have them both!"

"Pick _one_, damn it!" the older man demanded. "Or, if you _really_ want both, the village fields need blessed so we can ensure a good harvest. Have some of the village maidens show you where to sow some wild oats, in the right locations to get the fields blessed, and I'll let you claim both, okay?"

"Fair enough," Kuno nodded. "T'would seem to be a noble enough task for a scion of the House of Kuno to perform. By any chance, do you have a tie so I can braid that one's hair into a pigtail?"

"Eh, whatever," the man shrugged. "Just cut yourself some cord off of the spool over there."

In short order, Kuno was out in the fields with a gaggle of fair village maidens, discovering exactly what 'sowing his wild oats' really meant.

Afterwards, he almost forgot to leave the village at all, let alone with his payment…

O O O

"Okay, I can mostly use the Anything Goes style without too much of a problem," Ranma commented after going through all of the moves she could remember. "I don't _think_ I lost anything, but I'm pretty sure I didn't have no attacks like 'Hypno-Butt' or 'Puff-Puff' before."

"What _I_ can't believe is that you had to try them both out on _us_, Saotome," Nabiki replied tartly, recalling just how utterly 'mesmerized' she'd become watching Ranma-chan's firm and shapely ass swaying hypnotically side-to-side with an eye-riveting motion that filled her with an intense desire to do whatever the shapely little redhead told her to if she'd just let her fondle that perfectly formed little behind. And 'Puff-Puff' was still sending shivers of pleasure throughout Nabiki's body. "Or that they actually _worked_ on us!" So saying, the naked brunette tried performing her 'Jiggle' attack in order to get the redhead back, only to entrance her sister instead.

Snapping her fingers in front of the older girl's face to snap the bare-breasted Priestess out of her heart-eyed trance, Ranma scolded Nabiki. "Hey, none of that now! I think you need some Ponygirl time to cool you off a bit!"

Nodding as she felt the brunette become an animal again, even though there was absolutely no obvious _physical_ change in Nabiki, Ranma turned her attention towards Kasumi. "You alright there?"

"I'm fine, Ranma," the eldest Tendo sister replied calmly as she regained her equilibrium.

"You don't mind if I leave 'Biki like this for a while, do you?"

"Why would I mind, Ranma?" the Priestess asked quizzically. "She's just another animal when she's a Ponygirl. It's not like she's actually a person when she's like this."

"But still," Ranma continued, just to be sure, "she's still your sister, right?"

"Yes, I suppose she is," Kasumi nodded in agreement. "Even so, she is _currently_ just an animal, and a domestic one at that. _And_, in any event, she belongs to you regardless of which of her classes is active. You can do whatever you want with Nabiki since she's your property."

"Oh…" Ranma shrugged, deciding to just go along with Kasumi. Not that she disagreed at all so much as she just thought that it was strange that Kasumi saw her own sister that way. "This is more of that weird mental mojo-hokum that Nabiki was ranting about yesterday, isn't it?"

"Quite probably," Kasumi conceded.

"Huh. …Well, if you're really sure?"

"Yes, Ranma, I'm sure. Although…"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ride Nabiki for a while? I'm not used to walking this much."

"Okay. 'Biki, carry your sister for a bit, okay?"

"Yup yup!" Nabiki bobbed her head happily as she let her sister ride her piggyback-style, happy to be a proud and carefree Ponygirl once again. Her other self was just too cumbered down with useless thoughts and worries, and some silly idea that she was stupid as a Ponygirl. Which wasn't true at all (she could count all the way up to _two_! One…um…what came after one, again? Nabiki briefly looked down at her own breasts…. _Two_!). She was _much_ better off this way, and was plenty smart without her head so full of useless things. She didn't ever want to return to having such a full head ever ever again, nope nope nope…

A full head got in the way of _important_ stuff! Like…

Nabiki's sporadic thought process, such as it currently was, was soundly distracted by the sight of Ranma's bare ass as the shorter girl started running ahead of her…

O O O

A few weeks later, and a couple of levels higher, Ranma and Kasumi rode into a town on Nabiki and an actual Ponygirl that resembled Ukyo. Ranma was now wearing a g-string bikini brief and low-cuffed cloth boots, both teal in color and slightly sparkly, while Kasumi had added a matching mantle with hood to her priestly raiment, and both girls had accessorized with wooden wrist bangles. As they rode up to an inn, Nabiki suddenly stumbled a bit as her Class reverted back to Slave and Ranma suddenly felt much heavier.

"Could you kindly get the hell _off_ of me, Saotome?" Nabiki sniped at her rider.

"I guess it _was_ too good to last," Ranma commented, not really caring how Nabiki felt but getting off of the girl anyway. While riding Nabiki when she was a Ponygirl could be quite _stimulating_ (even to the point of experiencing mild 'mini'-orgasms), Ranma was nonetheless glad to have discovered that having something placed between her sensitive nether regions and Nabiki's back, such as her current apparel, greatly reduced the amount of friction and 'stimulation' to manageable levels so she wasn't continually 'lubricating' Nabiki's flexing buttocks as they had traveled…unless she deliberately focused on it (which she had on occasion). Still, after witnessing Kasumi experiencing some rather pleasant seeming (and apparently stronger) orgasms herself as she rode her own ponygirl, and taking note that said ponygirl's lush tail was always rather 'active' at those times, Ranma found herself rather happy that Nabiki didn't acquire the extra physical features that a real ponygirls had. Helping Kasumi down off of her mount, the redhead continued, "What's your problem, anyway? You were happy enough being a Ponygirl all that time - even Kasumi agrees with me; right, Kasumi?"

Nabiki's eyes twitched as she saw her older sister nod in agreement. "Argh! My own _sister_! The _nice_ one even! And _you_! I can't believe you captured a virtual copy of your _best friend_ to give to my sister as a freaking _mount_!"

"So what?" Ranma asked in a clueless tone. "It's not like the Ponygirl actually _is_ Ucchan, and she _is_ an animal, just like you were."

"I don't think Bouncy minds; do you, Bouncy?" Kasumi fondled her Ponygirl's breasts playfully before handing her off to a stable boy with an affectionate swat to her firm and shapely buttocks. Bouncy, not even knowing how to speak even the few words that the strange other not-really-a-real-ponygirl could when the other was _being_ a Ponygirl, just bobbed her head happily as she was led away for a rubdown, food, and a mound of fresh straw to sleep on.

"What about your Slave, Miss?" another stable boy asked, expectantly, curious about how the girl had suddenly become a person when she had been just an animal only moments ago, even if she was obviously still property. Sure looked nice enough though, even if her Mistress hadn't yet bothered to train the sass out of her…

"Eh, she's housebroken," Ranma commented. "Do you think the innkeeper would mind if she came inside with me?"

"I don't see why not," the boy shrugged. "Since she's your property, she'll have to either share your bed or sleep on the floor though."

"I don't have a problem with either of those," the naked redhead agreed amiably. "I'll decide which later."

"I hate this world," Nabiki grumbled as the boy nodded, apparently eager to rush off to tell the innkeeper that there would be some fresh entertainment tonight. "And I hate _you_, Saotome…"

"Surprisingly enough," Ranma remarked, "_I_ don't have a problem with how you feel. As often as you treated _me_ like your personal entertainment and cash cow, I _really_ couldn't give a crap how you feel right now as long as Kasumi has no problems with it."

"Well…" Kasumi paused thoughtfully, "it _is_ nice to see Nabiki doing an honest day's work for a change, instead of lazing about and scamming others out of their money…"

"And there you go," Ranma nodded wisely, smirking at Nabiki's distress.

"I really, _really_ hate this world," Nabiki muttered under her breath, knowing that neither Ranma nor her sister would even _consider_ treating her this way if the rules of this world weren't messing with how they perceived things.

And worst of all, she couldn't really argue with either of them about the part that was bothering her most of all at the moment: Nabiki really _had_ enjoyed spending all that time as a Ponygirl, and a disturbingly large part of her really, _really_ wanted to go straight back to being one right away, empty head and all. And she hated herself all the more for wanting to be the energetic, blissfully ignorant, empty-headed animal who thought _nothing_ about carrying her owner for hours on end as she ran without a care in the world…

O O O

"Hey, it's those cannibal hamsters again, Ukyo," Akane commented as she saw the tribe of little monsters setting up a new camp off in the distance.

"They're chipmunks, Akane," the now better armed and _technically_ dressed battle chef corrected as she dismounted form Yenchan and readied the large zanbatou she had acquired to take the place of her battle spatula. While the little monsters terrified her, she couldn't get nearly enough payback for what they had done to her, so she was eager for a fight. "Really big, disturbing, cannibal chipmunks. That sing."

Ukyo still caught herself singing parts of the confounding refrain about how best to cook herself from time to time. Fortunately, while the stupid song did tend to bring to mind how… tasty… she was, it apparently just aroused a different kind of hunger in her traveling companions.

The Warrior would take being figuratively nibbled on by a randy Akane and a naughty mouse Mage over being literally becoming a meal yet again any day of the week!

"I see they have…a pair of Ponygirls that look like a black-haired version of Ranma's girl-type and another that looks like me. And is that _Kuno_? …Can't we just leave them? I'm not really feeling the rage, and I don't think we can take that many of them without it…"

"You just don't want to rescue Kuno," Ukyo accused.

"Exactly!" Akane readily agreed. "It's not like the idiot won't re-spawn anyway. _And_ he went and picked a Ponygirl that looks like _me_!"

"Well, you picked Pussychan because she looks like Shampoo…"

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?" Akane asked as she tilted her head curiously at her adventuring partner, willfully ignorant of the similarities between herself and Kuno.

"Nothing, I guess," Ukyo shrugged, long accustomed to Akane's hypocritical nature. "Don't even know why I even brought it up."

"Can we just go? I _really_ don't want to have to deal with Kuno…"

"Okay, okay…" Ukyo sighed as she re-slung her giant sword and remounted Yenchan. "We should probably report the new location of this tribe to the nearest town or village anyway; so they can post a mission to clear them out again. That way we can earn more money by coming back after Kuno has had some time to…digest."

"Works for me!" Akane nodded happily.

O O O

"Yer redheaded companion is certainly earning your party's keep yer 'oliness," the innkeeper addressed the nearly naked neophyte that graced his establishment this evening. "I've enough extra custom from the draw of her dancing; and prancing to merit a large supper and breakfast for the two of ye, and perhaps some stew and drippings for the slave as well."

"Oh yes," Kasumi nodded happily as she watched Ranma perform an energetic and highly erotic series of sultry and seductive dance moves as the redheaded Battle Dancer went from table to table and occasionally lap to lap as she sang her way through the inn's dining hall. "That would be lovely."

"Would you like a bowl for yer Slave's stew?"

"Oh, we don't want to trouble your kitchen help by making them wash an unnecessary bowl. Nabiki can eat directly off the floor. I'll even make sure she licks it all clean."

Nabiki, who hadn't really paid any attention to the conversation due to being rather hypnotically entranced by her mistress' provocative performance, thought nothing of it when her meal was poured unceremoniously on the floor in front of her. She simply knelt down on her hands and knees with her naked ass high as she leaned forward and started

lapping her stew up, enjoying the first meal she had in weeks as a _person_ rather than as an animal. Not once did the irony of her thoughts occur to her, even as she eagerly licked the dirty cobble stone floor clean of any last trace of flavor from the remnants of her meal.

This was so much better, in her opinion, than the diet of mostly grasses and leaves with the occasional fruit or nut that she had subsisted on for the past couple of weeks as a Ponygirl!

Ooh! Score! Somebody had spilled some ale!

Ranma playfully patted Nabiki's elevated ass as she sat down to her own meal. If her Slave could find some incidental bounty from the Inn's floor, who was she to stop her? Besides, the innkeeper would probably appreciate his floor being just that much less filthy once Nabiki was done.

For her part, Ranma was enjoying the sensation of having finally made an honest evening's living as a practitioner of the Anything Goes School of Erotic Battle Dancing. Sure, her father had trained her on the road for ten long years, but actually having a chance to earn money with her training was a rare treat!

O O O

Returning from the inn's bath chamber, a now male and somber Ranma entered the small room they'd managed to acquire for the night. It was little more than a large closet really, with a pair of bunk-beds against either wall, a small window with a wood stand and candle beneath it, a chamber pot and nothing else that they hadn't brought in themselves. But it was remarkably clean and the mattresses had seemed comfortable enough and, more importantly, free of unwanted 'inhabitants'. Kasumi, in the bottom bunk to his right, had retired earlier that evening, while he had (while still in girl form) worked off their night's room-and-board dancing for the inn patron's entertainment, while Nabiki made herself useful by bussing the tables and licking up any spilled food and drink from both tables and floor alike. Both Tendo sisters appeared to be fast asleep. From the loin cloth and accessories he saw on the small nightstand, he could tell that Kasumi was completely nude under her beds, and looking to his left, Ranma blushed in mild embarrassment seeing a still naked Nabiki lying atop the other lower bunk, watching him with a strangely contemplative expression (and obviously not asleep after all). While he had grown far more accustomed to the flagrant nudity rampant in this world, seeing Nabiki relaxing calmly upon the bed, nude, had caused him to recall some of her earlier 'performance' that evening and the effect it had had upon him…even while in girl form.

"I take it from the male form and the blushing shy-boy routine that you've _finally_ remembered the way you were _before_ we got into this mess, Saotome?" Nabiki asked, somewhat more sympathetic with _this_ version of Ranma, as opposed to the seemingly vengeful bitch she was before becoming a guy again.

"I can't believe I treated you both that way, Nabiki. It ain't right."

"No, it isn't, Saotome." Nabiki tried hard not to sound angry or condescending as the martial artist sat down on the bed beside her and lowered his face into his hands. "How much of yourself did you get back?"

"All of it, I think," Ranma replied, sighing heavily, and lifting his face from his hands to stare at the wood-plank flooring. "All of my training and physical conditioning, and I _think_ all of what I'm _supposed_ to be back in real life."

"Well, that's good to know, I suppose. For however long it lasts."

"You think I'm going to go back to the way this stupid world wants me to be when my curse activates again, don't you?"

"Yeah, probably."

"That sucks."

"And now you know how _I_ feel about my Ponygirl problem. And the Slave one too, for that matter. I can't believe I was eating off the ground and _enjoying_ it…" the nude brunette said in disgust, also upset that it didn't even occur to be upset about that part until after Ranma had resumed his actual gender,m apparently for the first time since entering this stupid world.

"I'm _really_ sorry, Nabiki."

"I believe you, Ranma. I really do."

"I can't believe how unimportant my curse seemed to me all that time…. It's not that I forgot that I had one, or that I used to be a guy or anything like that, but…I dunno…like it wasn't really important somehow and I was just fine with being a girl, even if it was a sort of twisted tomboy version of one. Heck, just heating up some water to change back felt like it would be more effort than it would be worth."

"Huh…I guess you _really do_ know how I feel when I recover from my so-called thrice-damned 'animal' state."

Ranma shuddered in a whole new appreciation of Nabiki's problem, and guiltily reflected that his fiancée's sister's problem was far, far worse than his own, despite what she said. And he recalled some of the things 'she' had said and done to Nabiki…and Kasumi, and shuddered anew. "Nabiki, I…I'm sorry for…molesting you like that, back at the stream. It wasn't right, you had no say in what I did to you. And…oh kami…I can't believe what _Kasumi_ and I did later on…"

Nabiki sighed and came to a decision that she'd been contemplating for most of the evening. Reaching out, she began to lightly stroke Ranma's broad, muscular back in a soothing manner. "Ranma…don't feel too bad about that. I enjoyed it at the time and…truthfully, I won't mind if it happens again…often. As for what happened with Kasumi…do you regret it? Surely, with your curse and all the pressure from your fiancées, you had to have thought about the possibility of being…intimate, with another girl, at some point?"

"Honestly? No, I never _really_ did," Ranma slowly replied. "I don't know…sex, or anything like that, in _either_ form, just never occurred to me…except as something to be avoided at all costs. I mean, I've had the health classes and all, and 'Roshi and Daisuke were always trying to interest me in the latest porn they'd managed to get their hands on, but…I just had no interest in it, at all. Which is really strange…as I remember, when I was about eleven or twelve, I'd found someone's stash of hentai manga and being fascinated with them and…excited for some reason I didn't understand at the time. I made the mistake of asking Pop about them, and telling him how they made me feel funny. As you can imagine, Pop laid into me about wasting my time with them when I could better spend it focusing on the Art and he burned them all…though, I seem to recall him reading a few of them himself later on. Anyway, the next morning, Pop worked me over pretty good and then took me to some temple for 'special' training as he called it and…I've never had any interest in such things ever again."

"Sounds to me like he found a way to suppress your libido," Nabiki said contemplatively and with more than a little anger in her tone, "and it would explain a hell of a lot about your apparent lack of interest in what your fiancées so flagrantly flaunt before you."

"Heh, yeah," Ranma chuckled softly, "I knew what they wanted, but…I just wasn't interested. I was more embarrassed than anything else, and I also knew that if I ever _did_ do the things they wanted me to…I'd be married before the day was done, whether I wanted to be or not."

"Do you?" Nabiki asked. "Want to get married, that is?"

"Eventually, sure," Ranma replied. "But, what's the big hurry? I'm not even out of high school yet and there's still a lot I want to see and do before settling down somewhere and raising a family. But everyone's pushing me to get married _now_! And if I marry _any_ of the girls after me, I can just forget about advancing any further in the Art!"

"How do you figure that?" Nabiki asked, idly tracing her fingertip over some well-defined muscles.

"Oh, come on, Nabiki," Ranma huffed indignantly. "Even you should see the problem. If I marry Akane, I'll be tied to the dojo and expected to start teaching classes as soon as possible with little to no possibility of going on any 'training trips' to advance in the Art. No way Akane's going to allow _that_, not after the fine example my so-called parents have shown her. If I marry Shampoo…I have no desire to be a house_husband_, taking care of the home and raising the kids while Shampoo goes off to work. And Ucchan…would be little better than Shampoo; with her, her restaurant and okonomiyaki come first, the Art comes second. She'd probably allow me to go on the occasional training trip, even tag along now and then, but they'd be very few and _far_ between. And like Shampoo, when I wasn't _waitressing,_ in cursed form, in _her_ restaurant, not _ours_, I'd probably be stuck keeping the home and raising any kids we had while she focused on her business."

"So," Nabiki began, genuinely interested in this topic of conversation, "you want to marry a girl that will take care of the home and raise the kids while _you_ pursue the Art? Sounds a bit sexist to me, Ranma."

"That's not what I want at all," Ranma stated firmly, turning to look her in the eye. "I don't need someone to cook and clean up after me all the time, and I definitely want to help raise any kids we have, not saddle it all on whoever I marry. I have nothing against them pursuing their own goals in life, whatever they might be. But I _definitely_ want it to be a marriage of _equals_. Sharing the good times and bad, working together, helping each other and understanding each other."

"Sounds rather idealistic, Ranma," Nabiki stated, rather impressed that Ranma had put so much thought into the matter…it certainly appeared as if he'd given the topic far greater thought than those pursuing him for marriage; and certainly more thought than her baby sister seemed had given to it.

"Well, from what I've heard, there's no such thing as an _ideal_ or _perfect_ marriage," Ranma said. "Those are just 'romantic' myths. Most marriages just seem to be cases of a couple becoming 'accustomed' to living in close proximity to each other, raising any kids they have together, and just going through life together. _Good_ marriages are those where they support each other when things go wrong and share their happiness together when things go right, and _bad_ marriages are just the opposite, blaming the other when things in their lives go wrong and not sharing when things go right. In the end, though, any marriage will be what you make of it, and if you want a 'good' one…_both_ people in the marriage are going to have _work_ at making it good. You can't just coast along, doing nothing, and expect everything to take care of itself."

"That's pretty philosophical, Ranma, especially for you," Nabiki said. "And _very_ pragmatic. So…where'd you 'hear' such deep thoughts on the subject of marriage? Your mother?"

Ranma snorted. "Hardly. You've known her about as long as I have, so you're just as familiar with her _skewed_ ideas about men, women, and marriage." Ranma sighed. "Nah, I've just overheard people talking. Old people. Old _married_ people. And occasionally I've asked a few questions, here and there."

Ranma fell silent after that, and Nabiki was beginning to suspect that there was _far_ more to Ranma than she'd ever suspected. As well as that he was far more observant and intelligent than she'd ever given him credit for; ignorant of a great many things, true, but he wasn't dumb. She may well have been a bit _too_ hasty in foisting him off onto her baby sister.

"Well," Ranma sighed, getting to his feet and preparing to climb into the bunk above her, "we'd best get some sleep. No telling what we'll have to face tomorrow."

"Ranma, wait," Nabiki said, reaching out and taking his hand, stopping him. Once again, she quickly thought over the ramifications of what she was about to suggest…and came to the same decision she'd reached earlier. "Look, Ranma…for the first time since I got slapped with that stupid secondary class, you're yourself and, _for once_, I don't feel like I belong to you."

Ranma blinked at Nabiki, wondering what she was talking about, but keeping his mouth shut and giving her the time she needed to say whatever it was she apparently wanted to say.

Nabiki sighed and forged ahead. "What I mean is, since this world is probably going to screw us both over horribly, probably _literally_ considering the overall theme that seems to be prevalent around here, especially since the local idea of 'modest' apparel makes Frazetta designs look like standard issue…I…I would rather my first time be while you and I were as close to our _true_ selves as we're likely to get in this insane excuse for a world."

Ranma suspected what Nabiki was suggesting, and he was rather surprised to find the idea…appealing, when he'd had no such inclinations before. Well, that wasn't entirely true, as _she_ had certainly been inclined to have some fun with Kasumi and Nabiki a few days ago. Hmm, come to think of it, ever since entering this world Ranma had found himself…_herself_…a great deal more willing to touch other people in rather intimate ways and after some initial embarrassment had simply accepted their near nudity as the norm. Even now, he was gazing down upon Nabiki's naked form…and unless he thought about it, he wasn't really all that embarrassed about it. Still, he hesitated, if he and Nabiki…and when they returned to the real world…

"Ranma…" Nabiki began softly, and somewhat pleadingly to her chagrin, "I'm not asking you to marry me, and I won't try to force you into marrying me once we get back. But, I…I want _you_ to be the one I give my virginity to. Not some random encounter monster or something, or some guy I don't know. You. While I don't love you, I _do…_ care about you, despite how I treated you in the past, and I know you care about me as well."

"'Seize the day', huh? Or the 'moment'?" Ranma asked, as he undid the belt of his pants and allowed them to fall to the floor.

"More like 'seize the night', but…yeah," Nabiki replied, her eyes widening slightly as she gazed upon Ranma's stiffening manhood for the very first time. It was more than a little…intimidating.

"Akane's going to kill us; you know that, right?" Ranma asked as he slid into the bunk and helped Nabiki cover them both with the thin blanket.

"Feh, she'll get over it," Nabiki said, shivering pleasantly as she felt Ranma's hand come to rest on her bare hip, as she placed her own hands upon his broad chest. "Besides, you know darn well she's never going to believe that we never had sex, because of the way this world is, even if we don't. And, if all else fails, I'll just become your fiancée again and…we'll make a _serious_ go at it this time."

"Really? No stupid games, or tricks?"

"Games and tricks are for those trying to escape reality, Ranma. What we do tonight is because we're trying to escape from the reality of a 'game', even if for only a little while…" That said, Nabiki leaned up and kissed him, tenderly at first but with growing passion as Ranma finally allowed his hands to begin exploring…

O O O

"So…" Genma began as he considered the next move to make in the shoji game he and Soun were playing. "You think Ranma and Akane have hit it off yet?"

"It's only been a couple of hours, Saotome," Soun replied. "It's not even lunchtime yet. I'm just happy enough that the two went off together without too much of an argument this time. I'm sure Kasumi and Nabiki will keep them on their better behavior towards each other."

"There is that," Genma agreed amiably. "Speaking of lunchtime, I hear that there's a new all-you-can-eat Korean barbeque that opened up a few blocks from the Nekohanten. Want to give it a try?"

"Sure, why not? And after that, I heard good things about some kegs that were recently delivered to Kito's bar…"

"Sounds like a plan, Tendo!"

"That it does, Saotome! That it does!"

**END CHAPTER TWO**

Well, things certainly aren't looking up for our heroine just yet…despite the ending of this chapter. _And_ there seems to be a bit of a sliding timescale discrepancy, although there's no real way for anyone actually _in_ the game to realize this. Sure, Ranma seems to be aware of the true extent of the problem now, but is he doomed to forget it all again once his curse is triggered again?


	3. Chapter 3

_**QUESTS of CHAOS**_

PRE-READING AND EDITING ASSISTANCE BY:

Lord Talon,

Tai Khan,

7Winds,

...and some guy named Steve.

SPECIAL CREDIT TO:

Tai Khan, Guest (anonymous reviewer), and hueloovoo, for (among other things) helping to bring to my attention to where this story was either being inconsistent or slipping genre

Pesterfield, (anomymous spell and grammar checker before Tai Khan, 7Winds, and some guy named Steve joined Lord Talon).

LAST EDITED:

12/27/2011 - changed the scene where Nabiki and (male) Ranma hook up with Kasumi in the village market, and follow up scenes leading from that event. Not that those couldn't have happened the way they were posted the first or second time, just that it was unlikely to occur until the people controlling the Titan Project prototype started taking a more direct hand in manipulating 'players' and events in the test world...

1/2/2012 - tightened up the story here and there thanks to suggestions provided by my new pre-readers, corrected the spelling and grammar errors that had managed to sneak by somehow (although there may still be some that we missed), and clarified the motives of the Director...

1/3/2012 - Hopefully applied the last of the spelling and grammar corections... .;;

DISCLAIMER:

'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfic has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfic may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanfics, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even _gasp_ American comic books!).

TAGS:

Comedy Adventure Drama with frequent gratuitous (and probably unnecessary) nudity…

**CHAPTER THREE:**

"Here you go," stated the man who had acted as the group's courier from the gaming expo. "One 'external drive' with 'back up data' for further study and documentation, and one deck of 'special edition character cards' delivered safe and sound."

"And only _five_ hours _after_ the forward operation reported that you had left with it." The man who received the device and the package turned to walk back into the building, followed by the first man.

"I got sidetracked by some crazy high school bitch who apparently decided that it was cute and just _had_ to have it. By the way, she apparently named it Trinette. No idea why."

"The casing looks to be a bit scuffed," commented the recipient as the two waited for the elevator. "Are you sure you didn't drop this?"

"That may have happened once or twice while it was out of my hands. Granted, when I recovered it, it had both the brat's clothes and those of some guy draped over it. I'm guessing some sort of armature roller-skating snatch-and-grab team. They should be among the twenty or so 'extra cards' we managed to acquire."

The elevator door slid open, and the two men entered. The first used a card key and then pressed buttons B1 and 5, causing the elevator to go down.

Opening the case revealed a slab clear quartz covered inscribed with fine detailed runic designs, inlayed with gold lines following mystical, circuit-like patterns, and inset with a veritable palette of colors in the form of several precious and semiprecious stones. It glowed faintly from within with a pale bluish green light.

"Color's good… No visible cracks or missing pieces… I'd say that it's probably still viable despite the delay and rough handling."

"Well, I certainly _hope_ so. Even with the dust golems set to be seen leaving the expo later, our little dummy company is _still_ going to be the last confirmable location for anybody who bothers looking for them."

"And what they'll find is a small group of game developers a bit disappointed from the 'mixed reviews' they got from their initial play testers. Who will be properly worried when discover that all of their testers went missing and will be suitably cooperative with the authorities when questioned."

"Wait… They don't know what we're _really_ working on?"

"They're artists, programmers, and consultants, and all of our 'hardware' has been handled strictly by authorized, in house personnel. And, if all goes well with _this_ attempt, they will either be brought into the fold or added to the equations as _part_ of the project."

The elevator door opened once again to reveal a large open lab. Dominating the lab was a large granite table, roughly circular with the outer lip having the appearance of snow crested mountains. Within this ring, the tabletop appeared to contain a very realistic miniature diorama of a fantasy map surrounded by water. All in all, it seemed to be rather impressive, especially with the tiny clouds that drifted slowly overtop of it.

More alarming to the casual viewer, but ignored by the two men as they approached the table, were the six specialized benches surrounding the display, each one with a nude person secured to it, alternating male and female, with each captive hooked up to wires, tubes for feeding and evacuation, and headsets which controlled what they saw and heard, (if anything at all). Each also bore their own individual tattoo sets of mystic symbols displayed in arcane patterns.

"Should we wait for the Director?"

"She's already on her way. Just make sure that the 'titans' are still healthy while I plug this in. If the new formula works, we'll probably let the test world run for a bit before seeing what we can change while still keeping it viable. And if all goes well…"

"We'll _all_ be Gods in a new world of our own design," the project's Director completed as the other elevator door opened. The woman walked into the room, followed by her entourage of assistants.

"Madam Director," the man with the stone bowed, along with the other. "We are just about ready to start testing with the new equations…"

"Then do so. We're already almost five hours past the planned start time."

And with that comment, the data-crystal was slid into an open slot beneath the outer rim of the granite table, and a smallish, mist-shrouded island near the edge of the map displayed on the top stopped being nearly transparent as the starting island was returned to the test world…

O O O

Nabiki stirred lightly as she felt her bedmate shift beneath her. "You don't think you're going to sneak off and pretend last night didn't happen, do you?"

Ranma flinched slightly as he realized he was caught in the act, then lay back down. "I guess not. You aren't angry or nothing, are you?"

"That you tried to sneak off?" Nabiki inquired archly. "Yeah, a little." In a calmer tone full of wry humor, the naked brunette continued. "That we had sex? Far from it. Akane doesn't know what she's throwing away, treating you like she does." Reaching under the sheets, she let her hand wander down her lover's body to wrap her fingers around a particular part of his anatomy…

"That's mine."

"Whatever you say, Stud," Nabiki quipped, not letting go and beginning to gently stroke him. She was a little sore from their activities the previous evening, but figured that an early-morning 'ride' would help to ease much of her current discomfort.

"We probably should get the engagement switched to you now, Y'realize that, right?"

"Maybe," Nabiki snorted. "Then again, after riding the _Wild Stallion_ last night, I don't think I'd really mind it all that much. Daddy should be thrilled at any rate."

"Akane's still going to kill us."

"Little sister _had_ more than enough chances with you already, and practically threw them all away. She'll be mad that she lost the competition, but if she _really_ wanted to win, she'd have stopped pushing you away long ago. She'll get over it. She never understood how you expressed affection anyway."

"And you do?"

"I figured it out well enough I think. You _do_ know that your father didn't do you any favors raising you on the road the way he did, right?"

"Yeah, I figured. You seem to like me anyway… Or at least you do now."

"You're a barbarian, a jock, and a bit of a thug, Saotome, but underneath it all, you're basically a nice guy at heart who's trying to figure out how to do the right thing from your special point of view. You're a handful, sure, a bit wild and untamed, and any woman who manages to claim you is going to be facing quite a challenge."

"You didn't seem to even want to do anything with that 'challenge' before, 'Biki." Ranma commented warily.

"That was then, Stud," Nabiki replied seriously. "That was before I had all my hopes and ambitions torn from me by this stupid excuse for a game world. That was before I realized on a whole new personal level how special a guy like you really is."

"Yeah, well, until the next time I get wet anyway," the boy groused.

"There is that, yes," Nabiki admitted. "Especially since your girl-type form apparently doesn't like me very much, if at all. But who you are then is a twisted reflection of who you really are underneath whatever this game imposes on you while you are a girl. Right now, you're outside of it's influence somehow."

"How can you tell?"

"I just can. Probably the same way I can tell that I'm not currently property while you're a guy."

"This world sucks."

"Still not hearing any argument from me, Saotome."

O O O

Kasumi smiled serenely as she made her way through the small village looking over the various shops and street vendors as she contemplated what to sell, which provisions to purchase, and where the armor and equipment shops were.

She was happy that Ranma and Nabiki had 'found' each other last night, if a little disappointed at her baby sister's loss. But then again, Akane should have grown out of the boys-are-icky stage years ago, so maybe it was for the best anyway.

"Begging yer pardon, yer Holiness," one of the street vendors began ans he stepped towards the bare breasted priestess, "but I was wonderin' if'n you'd be willin' to bless my sausage? I can offer good coin for your tithe…"

"Why certainly," Kasumi nodded brightly, happy to be called upon to perform her duties.

"And my daughter's peaches and melons, Ma'am, if you don't mind! Her stall is just over that way," another man bequeathed the wandering Priestess, since she seemed to be willing enough.

"And my boy's mushroom!" yet another man called out, only to glare indignantly as everyone stopped to stare at him. "What? He's only got the one! May as well have it blessed right proper."

Kasumi reflected that perhaps her little errand may run a bit later than she originally expected. Licking her lips, she prepared to bless the first man's sausage…

O O O

"Welcome to the Village of Brown Chicken Brown Cow…" Akane read the sign as she and Ukyo approached the gates riding piggyback on their Ponygirls. "What kind of name is that?"

"You're kidding, right?" Ukyo asked from Yenchan's back.

"What?" Akane asked, cocking her head as she looked at her fellow adventurer curiously.

"You're not kidding," Ukyo sighed, wondering if the village would still be standing in an hour or two.

"Why don't we just try to sell our vendor trash, upgrade our armor and weapons if possible, get some provisions, and leave?" M-chan suggested from his perch on top of Akane's head.

"Oh wow! I don't think I've ever seen Pony_boys_ before!" Akane commented, looking towards a vendor selling mounts. "Bleh… two of them look like Kuno…"

"And that one looks like Ranchan!" Ukyou exclaimed excitedly. "Think we have enough to buy a couple like him?"

"Actually, I think we only have enough funds to maybe buy that pale, sickly one in the back," Akane commented, no more bothered by the nudity of the Ponyboys than she was with the equally naked Ponygirls being sold alongside them. They were all merely _animals_ after all, regardless of what they looked like. Nothing to be upset over.

"Uh… That's me…" M-chan commented, not sure whether or not he should feel upset about Akane's derision of how his actual body looked, even if it _was_ only a duplicate.

"No offence, M-Chan," Akane apologized to the talking mouse riding her head. "Still, I think you're better off as you are now, if that's what you looked like when you were still human."

"Well, I do _feel_ healthier, I guess…"

"How does one steer Ponyboys, anyway?" Ukyo asked thoughtfully as she gazed longingly at the one that resembled Ranchan's boy-type. "It's not like they have boobs to hold onto, and the other 'handle' is too low to grab while riding them…"

"Just goes to show why Pony_girls_ are superior, while Pony_boys_ are more trouble than they are worth."

"If you wanted to actually _ride_ them, sure," admitted the vendor, who had overheard part of the conversation once the girls got close enough. "But Pony_boys_ tend to be better at draft work, like hauling larger wagons or plowing fields. In those cases, reins connected to nipple-rings work well enough."

"And what about that pale one over there?" Akane asked, not seeing any value in the runt.

"Eh, he's likely to get sold to a glue maker or apothecary. Not even enough meat on him to yield a decent stew at a roadside inn, that one…"

M-chan really didn't know how he was supposed to take that rather disturbing bit of information. Not for the first time, he wondered at the girls strange lack of reaction over this, and other similar things that they had come across since entering the game world…

O O O

"Brother, dear," Kodachi admonished Tatewaki Kuno, causing the oversized chipmunks who were _yet again_ dancing a well choreographed performance around him while they sang out ideas for how to cook him _this_ time to suddenly stop and look at the intruder who had suddenly appeared in their midst. "Don't be so rude to your hosts. You obviously lost, so be gracious in your defeat and stop struggling. You should be honored to be the centerpiece of their feast!"

"Ah, lady?" asked one of the furry little cannibals as a couple of chipettes continued to snuggle and stroke a particular part of their frantic captive's anatomy as they stuffed it full of nuts. "You mean you aren't going to try to rescue him?"

"I don't see why I should," the young lady wearing a pair of dark blue cloth boots, a matching cloth panel hanging from a golden waist-cord, and a skull-shaped hair ornament holding an off-center ponytail replied. "It's not like he won't re-spawn anyway. Besides, if I might make a suggestion, do you know how to prepare long-pig luau style? As fond of those islands as Father was, that was the one traditional dish of the natives that he never forced upon us, and I find myself quite curious."

"Um… You did call him your brother, you know that, right?" the squeaky little musician with the red cap inquired.

"I fail to see what that has to do with anything," Kodachi shrugged. "We're often at cross purposes anyway. He sees himself as the hero, but he's really such an overblown boar about it. And while I have never claimed to be anything but fair and just, I am fair and just on _my_ terms and no others."

Mage? Well, that's what her Class said, so check. Crazy? Well, she certainly sounded like she might be a sociopath, or at least delusional, so tentative check there. Evil? Quite possibly, and if not, then probably close enough to count, so check…

"Lady," started one of the taller cannibal chipmunks, this one wearing round rimmed glasses, "Would you happen to be in the market for some minions?"

Kodachi blinked at the question. Thought about it, then asked one of her own. "Would you be willing to eat a few of my rivals should the opportunity present itself?

"Lady," started one of the taller cannibal chipmunks, this one wearing round-rimmed glasses, "would you happen to be in the market for some minions?"

Kodachi blinked at the question. Thought about it, then asked one of her own. "Would you be willing to eat a few of my rivals should the opportunity present itself?

"Lady," the one with the red cap smiled broadly as he bowed to her, "I believe that this is the start of a beautiful friendship!"

Kuno struggled against his bonds all the more, desperate to get away so that he could find and warn his beloved Akane Tendo and the Pigtailed Girl of his wicked sister's twisted plans!

A short while later, Kuno re-spawned and immediately made his way, post haste, in a direction other than where he knew the little monsters' camp lay. He would have to first reacquire weapons and armor, yet again, and as the Vengeance of Heaven was proving to be slower than desired, he was just going to have to knuckle down and actually grind some levels before bringing justice down upon these singing American rodents.

Besides, he really didn't want to accidentally witness any part of his twisted sister enjoying herself as she ate her fill of his previous incarnation…

O O O

"Hey, mister!" the innkeeper called out to Ranma as he and Nabiki sat down at one of the tables for breakfast. "I don't know what the redheaded Battle Dancer told you when she lent her to you, but slaves ain't permitted to sit at the tables most places. My inn ain't no exception."

Ranma glared at the man as he got up and approached him. "You don't say…"

"Now now, mister, I don't make the rules, I just abide by them. She can be fed on the floor like any other combat pet, and it's not like I'm telling you to put her out the door, right?" The innkeeper tried to placate the lad, whom he couldn't get a good feel for. He decided that a quick check of the boy's stat block might be in order, but all that revealed was nothing but a black band overlaid with a pair of skulls, and nothing else. Nothing else at all. Not even a blank space for where a hidden name might be...

"I think Nabiki is going to sit at the table with me." Ranma stated, staring through half-lidded eyes at the obviously intimidated man. "That isn't going to be a problem, is it?"

"N-no problem, sir! N-none at all!" the innkeeper replied, desperately hoping to get out of this situation with his life and livelihood intact. "Would you like fresh milk and sausage with yer morning eggs, sir?

"Yeah, sounds good. And a plate and flatware for Nabiki too, got it?"

"Of course, s-sir! Wouldn't think otherwise!"

"Didn't think so…" Ranma muttered as the man rushed off and started barking out orders in the inn's kitchen. Returning to his table, he sat down with a huff. "Stupid world…"

"Wow, Ranma! He was really terrified of you!"

"Well, I am the best." Ranma smirked, puffing up a little.

"No, I mean really afraid! Like you were some sort of monster or demon, or maybe a capricious lord…"

"A what lord?" Ranma asked, honestly not remembering ever even hearing that word before.

"It means careless and likely to have massive and possibly dangerous mood swings, and likely fatal to those beneath you if you're a lord of any type."

"Oh…" Ranma looked uncomfortable, as that sounded pretty much like one of the Kuno family. "I didn't mean to scare him that much…" He looked ready to get up and maybe follow the man into the kitchen to try to aplologies.

"Don't bother, Stud. You'd only end up scaring him half to death if you tried to explain yourself anyway. And I, for one, would rather eat at a table before we are run out of town by the locals."

"If you insist," Ranma conceded reluctantly as he sat back down.

"I've been meaning to ask…"

"Yes?"

"Where'd those pants come from?"

"Would you believe that this was the bikini-briefs I was wearing as a girl?"

"…"

"I'm serious! It changed when I did!"

"I believe you, Saotome."

"This world is strange."

"Still not arguing with you there, Stud…"

O O O

"You didn't have to destroy half the village, Akane," Ukyo commented as the pair rode away from the smoldering ruins on their Ponygirls.

"I don't care! I wasn't about to have sex with any Ponyboy, even if that _is_ supposed to be how to properly tame them! I don't care _what_ kind of discount we were being offered!"

"That's just the one stall, Akane…"

"Well, that guard didn't have to complain about how small my breasts were when he grabbed them while trying to take me down, now did he?"

"Yeah, but still, half the town?"

"He had friends! You saw! And they _agreed_ with him!"

"Okay, okay… You _do_ have to admit that having sex with me in the ruins of their barracks after you beat them all up was over the top though."

"Maybe," Akane nodded. "It was fun though."

"Yeah, I guess I can't argue with you there."

M-chan wisely decided to stay out of the argument and simply enjoy the fact that he got to watch the whole thing, start to finish…

O O O

Kasumi tsk'd disapprovingly as she saw the bustling crowd, frightened expressions appearing on many faces, break apart to give wide berth to Ranma and her sister. Shaking her head, she walked up to the pair. "You shouldn't go around terrorizing the locals, Ranma," the bare-breasted Priestess stated, calmly but firmly.

Nabiki's eyes twitched as she once again witnessed Ranma's downfall to the tones of gentle feminine disapproval. "I didn't do nothin', Kasumi!" Ranma tried to defend himself while looking anywhere but at the eldest Tendo sister's prominently displayed chest. Or Nabiki's naked body... Or any of the obviously topless village women in the crowd around them…

What the hell was with this world, anyway? It was like living in Happosai's Happy Fantasyland, only with all the female tops already pre-stolen! And maybe about half of the bottoms too for that matter…

"Are you sure, Ranma? They do seem to be quite frightened..."

"It's his curse, Kasumi," Nabiki speculated. "I think whatever brought us into this world failed to take his curse into account. He doesn't 'scan' like anyone... or anything... else the locals have encountered so far. At least not when he's male. You can see it in his 'stat block' if you check - it's just a black band with a couple of skulls."

"Stat block?" Ranma asked as he looked at Nabiki directly, curious enough to mentally displace her nudity once again.

"You haven't been reading the tutorial, have you?"

"I have too!" Ranma denied indignantly. "Well, some of it anyway. A lot of it doesn't make any sense, and I already know more about fighting, traveling, and taking care of myself in the wilderness than whoever wrote that piece of crap. Besides, I've been doing pretty well just figuring out the weirder combat stuff on my own without having to study any stupid 'rules' about it..."

Kasumi and Nabiki blinked, then tilted their heads in unconscious synchronicity as they both considered that the well-traveled martial artist might just have a point where he and the supposedly helpful tutorial were concerned.

Then Nabiki took note of how the crowd seemed to shift even further away from their group, and the increase in the occurrence of such words as: "demon," "black band," "sacrilege," "foul sorcery," "double skulls," and "boss" that drifted their way...

"If I might make a suggestion," the naked brunette commented quietly to her companions, "We should probably leave the village now. You know, before the mob mentality sets in and they try to lynch us?"

"Already on it," Ranma replied in an equally quiet tone. "We're already moving towards the closest village gate. It's best not to start running unless we have to though - draws attention worse than anything else."

"Yeah, I guess you would have experience with that sort of thing, Saotome."

"Unfortunately," Ranma agreed with a nod before grumbling to himself. "Stupid Pops..."

"Oh my... Are those pitchforks and torches?"

"You know what I just said about not running?" Ranma asked as he took hold of a hand each from Kasumi and Nabiki.

"Yeah?" Nabiki asked, right before she felt Ranma grab one of her hands as he took off like a shot. Out of the corner of her eyes she caught a glimpse of Kasumi being dragged along in a similar manner.

"Forget it!"

O O O

"Looks like a storm is heading in, Akane."

"Are you sure?" the shorter girl asked Ukyo as she followed the other girl's gaze. Sure enough, there were dark clouds gathering, and they didn't look too far away.

"Might not hit us before it moves on, but it would still be a good idea to set up camp now if we don't want to be wet and miserable while we're doing it."

"Good idea..."

O O O

Ranma cursed her luck as the rain started and she suddenly had a much harder time dragging the two Tendo sisters along than she should have experienced. There was no question about it now, this world was definitely screwing around with her fighting skills and conditioning whenever she was female!

Which meant that the three girls didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of either getting away or fighting their way out of this situation if she kept dragging them along.

So, instead, Ranma ducked and weaved through the vendor stalls a bit, managing to deposit Kasumi and Nabiki out of the immediate view of the mob before trying leading the crowd away from the two sisters...

O O O

"Hmmm… The test world seems to be responding to the new equation in a promising manner this time, Madam Director."

"Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I suppose that there had to be a reason why so many of the early creation myths around the world implied that the gods were randy bastards. We can always fine tune things more to our actual purposes later, once everything stabilizes."

"If I may be so bold, Madam Director, might I inquire as to why you selected the Tendo sisters as potential targets?"

"I have unfinished business with their family," was all the woman said, not wanting to go into how Soun had left her for Kimiko, or the fact that the birth of their first daughter so soon afterwards meant that the man she had fallen for way back then had been two-timing her behind her back. Too bad the bitch had died, meaning that Kimiko was out of her reach, so she'd just have to make her daughters pay in her place.

How convenient, the Director thought, that she could make the daughters pay for the sins of their mother over and over again…

O O O

It had been several hours since Ranma reunited with Kasumi and Nabiki on the open road outside of the village, and Ranma had managed to not only secure Kasumi's Ponygirl, Bouncy, but a cart for the near physical duplicate of Ukyo Kuonji to pull them along in. As well as a random assortment of supplies that the Battle Dancer had managed to somehow acquire during her part of the getaway, despite being the only member of their group whom the villagers were actively trying to catch.

A fact that annoyed the currently female Ranma greatly when she found out.

"Don't feel too bad, Saotome," Nabiki commented in her usual dry manner as the three stopped for lunch. "At least you got away clean, and got 'compensated for your troubles,' as your father or Happosai might put it."

"I'd have gotten away faster, or maybe even scored more loot from those jerks if I'd known you two would have been safe if I bugged out while I was still a guy. Whatever this stupid world did to my girl-type, I'm actually a lot weaker than I'm used to."

"It is good that you tried to protect us, Ranma," Kasumi consoled the barely-clad redhead. "Even though I must express some disappointment that you stole from the villagers during your escape."

"Yeah, well, they pick a fight with me over something stupid like that, and they'll just have to deal with how I choose to react," said redhead retorted, unrepentant.

"I'm curious though... Why did the villagers bother trying to look at your stat block anyway?"

"The big lug told off the innkeeper for letting his slave eat at the table, instead of off the floor. Then the rumors and checking just followed us right out the door until we met you."

"Oh, is that all?" Kasumi asked. "I'm surprised that you tried to eat at the table though. You didn't seem to have any problems with eating off the floor yesterday."

"Feh," Nabiki huffed in disgust, "that's just one of many ways the stupid 'rules' of this world are messing with me. The closest I've been to myself since we arrived was while Ranma was male, and until that happened, I actually hadn't noticed just how far I was losing myself. Even now I'm only aware of some of the differences by comparing how I was when she was a guy to how I was before and after."

"Such as?" Ranma prompted leadingly.

"Well, for one thing," Nabiki shrugged indifferently, "I don't seem to mind being a slave while you're a girl. At least, nowhere near as much as I should care, if the desperation I felt last night was any indication. Heck, even then it never occurred to me to be disgusted with the fact that I was eating off the ground or dirty floors since we got her until this morning when the innkeeper tried to shoo me away from the table."

"That bothers you?" Ranma asked, wondering if she should get Nabiki a bowl or something to eat out of.

"No," the nude brunette sighed in resignation after a moment's thought. "At least, not really. I happen to _like_ eating off the ground, and I'm actually having a hard time imagining myself eating any other way. The thought of eating at a table like a free person is actually kind of scary and even knowing that I did so before we came here just feels all sorts of _wrong_ to me_."_

"That's messed up," Ranma commented in sympathy.

"What's messed up," Nabiki replied sardonically, "is that I wasn't aware that I was beginning to like _being_ property instead of _owning_ anything myself! Even knowing from last night that not being free should be horrifying to me, right now I can't seem to help but prefer to be a Slave the same way that I prefer to be stupid when I'm a Ponygirl."

"Did you know about this, Kasumi?"

"No, Ranma," the bare-bosomed beauty replied serenely as she dished out some stew for Ranma. "Although I suppose it does make sense now that I think about it. I do remember thinking how proud Father will be now that I'm not shamefully covering my natural beauty anymore. In fact, I believe that he will be quite pleased that you are finally comfortable with yourself _as_ property, Nabiki, instead of always trying to acquire wealth of your own."

Nabiki looked at her sister in horror as she came to the realization that, unlike herself and Ranma, Kasumi had _not_ mentally reset when Ranma had become male.

"This world is all kinds of messed up," Nabiki's nearly naked owner commented under her breath as the bare breasted priestess dumped her sister's meal on the dirt road.

Kasumi just smiled serenely as she began to clean up the impromptu picnic area, while her sister knelt down and started licking her meal off the ground like any proper slave should. She was pleased to note that Nabiki showed no signs of either the hesitation or disgust that their discussion implied might remain after how disoriented the girl had felt while her owner was male.

After everyone was done eating, Ranma made sure that Bouncy was properly hooked up to the cart as Kasumi climbed into the seat. Finding a set of reins, the Priestess handed the ends to Nabiki while she kept hold of the middle.

"Ah… Ranma?" Kasumi called out.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to have Nabiki help pull the cart at all?"

"No. At least not until she's a Ponygirl again anyway. Why do you ask?"

"Well, she seems to be trying to pierce her nipples so that the ends of the reins can be properly attached to her instead of Bouncy…"

"Ack! No! bad 'Biki!" the diminutive redhead exclaimed as she rushed over to stop her slave from damaging herself. "Your milk tastes better than Bouncy's! Spiking your tits might ruin them. We'll wait until we can ask a professional, okay? Or at least until we get a ponygirl that produces better tasting milk than yours…"

Nabiki blinked, and wondered why she had even attempted to pierce her own nipples even as she felt conflicted as to whether she should be take her owner's babbling comments as a compliment or as an insult…

O O O

"Okay, everything seems to be in order," one of the men said as he checked the monitors.

"Okay then, let's go over the extra 'cards' we managed to catch. We're going to want to append suitable files to their 'accounts' before they are inserted."

"We aren't going to have much to go by since we'll just have their appearances and akashic readings. Part of how we decided which 'classes' to use for the official test subjects was based on the information we were able to glean from reports, the interviews we managed to get, as well as the forms and questionnaires they themselves filled out for us..."

"Yes, but that's hardly required now is it? Or we wouldn't have been able to change the Saotome boy into a girl."

"Why was that done, anyway? I mean, besides the fact that he was obviously asking for it by choosing the login name and password he registered with..."

"That's not enough?" the Director asked in an arch tone that suggested that they drop the matter. She didn't want to admit that turning the fiancé of one of Soun Tendo's daughters into a girl was more of an indirect dig as part of her private vendetta against the Tendo family than anything else directly relating to the boy or even the project in general. The fact that the login and password he had picked hinted at a bit of gender dysphoria had proven to be too tempting to resist as yet another way to indirectly strike at them.

"Um... According to this, we somehow managed to change another boy into a girl as well..."

"Wait. I thought that that sort of change had to be due to a deliberate adjustment on our part?"

"As far as anyone knew, Konatsu Kenzan was actually a girl. 'She' certainly looked the part, as well as acting like one and managing to incorrectly mark 'her' gender in every possible way to do so in the forms and questionnaire. We even pre-generated 'her' character as a female because of that information, but look at the card yourself. The image on it is male even though the 'account' shows that 'she' is currently female, just like the Saotome kid."

"So... not an accident on our part then."

"It doesn't seem that way, no. Kenzan's current akashic readings are very different than Saotome's though..."

"That's probably because what we did to Saotome was properly planned on our part."

O O O

That night, as the three settled down to sleep under the stars, Nabiki finally remembered how she _should_ be feeling about how thoroughly mind-fucked she was while her owner was female, but for the life of her, despite trying as hard as she could, she could not bring up even the tiniest feelings of anger or resentment about it.

Although her new inability to do so did leave her with a sense of creeping horror. Not because she was a Slave, but because she knew that being one _should_ bother her and it _didn't._ She was far more upset with the fact that she didn't find the idea of being property anywhere near as unpleasant as she had the previous night. She felt… _comfortable_ belonging to Ranma, and had a hard time even imagining how wanting to own something rather than being owned herself must have been like back when she embraced her terrible freedom.

Nabiki knew she was losing herself, bit by bit, to the bizarre 'rules' of this strange world they had come to but she was also aware that the way she _used_ to be felt more and more _wrong_, as opposed to how _right_ the way she _currently_ was felt to her.

Which would all come crashing down on her as the changes reset herself back to mostly normal the next time Ranma turned into a guy again, if today's experience was any indication. She honestly didn't know if Kasumi wasn't the more fortunate one, as her elder sister didn't seem to be bothered at all about any of the changes they were experiencing.

She hated this world with a passion. That had not changed. She was also developing a growing resentment of curses, and magic in general by association. At least as far as they affected her personally...

O O O

Cologne looked at the two elder men of the Tendo household in disgust. Despite being properly terrified of her and groveling at her feet, they were both too drunk at the moment to be of much use until some time the next day.

Neither one had seen her great granddaughter, nor their own children for that matter, since far far earlier in the day, and they hadn't really expected to until sometime late Sunday evening.

Cologne wondered what her great-granddaughter was up to, and hoped that the girl would at least be circumspect enough not to cause trouble with the authorities for the Nekohanten and herself. It was enough of a hassle keeping the officials in the immediate area from turning anything other than a blind eye towards the antics of Shampoo and Mousse, as (unlike the other upstarts in Nerima), neither of them were properly Japanese in their eyes. If worse came to worst, she would just have to arrange a rescue party to search for them herself, with what few of the remaining local talent remained available, as she suspected that several of them were already caught up in whatever was happening this time.

She tried not to worry too much about what might be going on, comforting herself in the knowledge that whatever may be happening, her great-grandaughter would carry on the best she could with proper Amazon determination and resourcefulness.

O O O

Stretching as she awakened in a mist-shouded glade, a naked, lavender-haired girl twitched her cat-like ears as her tail swished briefly.

"Nya!" she cried out in appreciation of the butterfly that flittered randomly into her field of view.

A quick pounce later caught the catgirl her colorful breakfast, after which she licked her hands clean.

For a brief moment, Shampoo felt as if she had recently suffered a soul-crushing loss, but it was fleeting.

With a light heart, unburdened by even a name, the catgirl cheerfully stood up and began to slink off sexily in a random direction. Not even a single intelligent thought entered her head, nor even a hint of any memories at all of ever having been anything other than an animal...

O O O

END CHAPTER THREE


End file.
